The Coven Trilogy: The Obsidian Coven
by rucabear
Summary: Witches are bad, the Winx Club is good. It's common knowledge. But when the daughters of the Winx Club are thrown together for a mission that plunges them deep into the witchy world, the world becomes no longer so black and white. Can these six girls live up to their mothers' legacy and learn the difference between what is good and what is right? Because they might not be the same.
1. prologue one: the princesses

**Tell me in the comments who your favorite Winx girl is and why!**

* * *

 **Jane**

Jane woke up to the ringing of her alarm, blasting her ex-best friend from childhood's theme song that she never got around to changing. Dragging herself out of her giant, four-poster bed, the princess grabbed a pair of skinny jeans and her newest white tank top and headed to her private bathroom. After the usual morning routine, Jane got dressed and pulled her loose red curls back with a bandana. Grabbing the suitcases she had packed last night and slipping on some brown sandals, she rushed downstairs, unable to control her excitement.

"Jane, don't run," her mother instructed as she took a seat at the table.

"Sorry, Mom," she apologized. "I'm just super excited."

Bloom laughed.

"I understand, sweetheart, but remember your etiquette training," she told her daughter.

Sky cleared his throat and, turning to his youngest child, said, "Speaking of etiquette training, Jeremy, are you excited for your first day with Arcturo?"

Jeremy pouted and sank down so far in his seat that all Jane could see was the red top of his head and the freckles on his pale forehead. Of all three of her siblings, Jane and Jeremy looked the most alike despite their three year age difference; both had loose red curls and miles of freckles and well as their mother's stern brows. The only difference was that Jane inherited her father's sky blue eyes and Jeremy was the only one of Bloom's four children to inherit their grandmother's spring green eyes.

"I already told you I don't want to go to etiquette training," the thirteen-year-old whined for what felt like the billionth time. "I want to train to be a paladin."

"Sweetheart, paladin training doesn't begin for another three years," Bloom reassured him.

"Yeah, and just be grateful that you didn't have to start etiquette training when you were seven," Julia chimed in, flipping her coppery blonde hair over her shoulder. "It's a gross double standard if you ask me."

"Yeah, well, nobody asked you," Jonah said, elbowing his younger sister in the ribs.

Julia dropped her utensils with a clatter and rounded on Jonah, angrily proclaiming, "Typical man, trying to harass me into silence."

"Typical Julia, trying to make everything about the patriarchy," Jonah fired back with a dangerous glint in his big blue eyes. Jonah was the only one to inherit their mother's ginormous cyan eyes. Julia and Jane both had Sky's smaller, more stately eyes.

"Everything is about the patriarchy!"

"Kids," their mother tried to interject, but Bloom's voice was drowned out by the sound of the two oldest arguing. Sky was still trying to coax Jeremy back into his seat and all Jane could do was groan and drop her head on the table. So much for etiquette training.

When she finished her breakfast and stood, the servants took her plate away and the Royal Rabbit Keeper approached her with one soft-sided carrier in each hand, one pink and one grey.

"Your rabbit, Your Highness," he said when he presented the grey case to her. She smiled graciously and took the carrier from him, peering inside at her little bunny friend.

"Hey there, Reuben," she said into the mesh. A shimmering silver baby bunny hopped to the front and nuzzled her nose with his own. Jane grinned and, turning to her family, said, "We have to get going."

Julia looked up from her argument and said, "Oh, yes. Alfea. Right."

She stood and walked over to Jane, flip-flops smacking against the marble floor.

"Ready to go, little sis?" she asked as she took the pink carrier from the Royal Rabbit Keeper.

"You're only a year older than me," Jane muttered under her breath as Julia formed a swirling pink portal.

"I'll miss you, sweethearts," Bloom said as she pulled the both of them into a hug around her big pregnant tummy. When she pulled away, Sky clapped both of them on the shoulder reassuringly and Jeremy gave them a quick squeeze before retreating beneath the table once again. Jonah waved.

And then she stepped through the portal.

 **Sylvie**

Lottie woke Sylvie up in the morning by pulling back the curtains of her giant window that overlooked the gardens and blinding her with the rays of Solaria's first sun. She groaned and sat up, glaring at her maid as she tsked and scuttled out of the room.

Sylvie headed to the bathroom and when she came out, her lady-in-waiting Sandra was standing their with her packed luggage and an outfit picked out for her. Smiling gratefully, she put on the fitted, off-the-shoulder sundress and, heading to her closet, she pulled out some gladiator sandals and silver moonstone jewelry to pair it with. Sitting in front of her vanity, she let Sandra begin drying and combing through her golden blonde hair. Admiring herself in the vanity, she noticed new sunspots had popped up on her suntanned collarbone over the summer. Pouting, she covered them with concealer.

When Sandra finished with her intricate braid, Sylvie stood and grabbed the brown, fringed purse that matched her shoes and the guards that stood outside her door grabbed her luggage.

"Mom, can you believe today's the day?" the lanky teen exclaimed as she bounded down the stairs.

Stella sprang up from her seat in the foyer and went to embrace her daughter.

"Yes, darling, I am so excited for you!"

Her father laughed from where he was still seated. Her little sister was sitting on the carpet playing with dolls, dirty blonde hair falling to form a curtain around her and her little world. The two women went to join him and a butler brought out a plate of scrambled eggs and salad for Sylvie. A second later, her twin brother slumped down the stairs to join his family for breakfast in the foyer, brown hair a mess and yellow eyes bleary with sleep.

"Yum," he said as he picked some egg off of Sylvie's plate with his fingers and ate it.

"Arlo!" Sylvie screeched. "Don't eat off my plate."

Orlando only shrugged and sat down in his armchair.

"Dad!" Sylvie whined. "Tell him something!"

The king consort looked up from his paper and said, "Manners, Orlando."

Sylvie pouted in disappointment and crossed her arms, sitting back in her chair. Stella gave her a sympathetic look and urged her daughter to finish her breakfast, which she did. She pushed the incident to the back of her mind and let it get overtaken by her enthusiasm for her first day of fairy school. She'd been to elementary school, princess school, and lady school, but now was truly where her life would begin.

"Okay, Mom, I'm finished. Can I go now?"

Stella frowned and said, "I'm going to miss you so much."

Sylvie saw the tears forming in her mother's yellow eyes and knew that if she started crying, then Sylvie would most definitely join in.

"Arlo, summon the portal," she said, sniffling to hold back her tears.

Orlando yawned and pulled off the Ring of Solaria, transforming it into the staff and summoning a portal to Alfea.

"Peace out, sis," he said with a sleepy peace sign. "See you tonight."

And with that, she was gone through the portal, mountain of luggage and all.

 **Marissa**

Marissa almost choked on her tea with how quickly she rushed to finish it, but her mom launched into another story from her glory days at Alfea and she groaned internally, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose. Don't get her wrong, she loved listening to her mom's Winx Club stories, but she had french braided her curly brown hair an hour ago and spent ages picking out her ratty sweatshirt and black miniskirt so that she could be at Alfea by now, not still sitting in the castle's dining room. She was supposed to be making her own stories by now, not listening to her mother's.

When she finally got free, it was only because Brooke and Beck were fighting again. Aisha rushed away to smooth over the issue, so Marissa slipped away to say goodbye to the rest of the family.

River and Ridge were in the nursery playing Wizard War and that goodbye was fairly short because four-year-olds aren't generally interested in much more than playing and destroying things. She headed over to the cribs where Cove and Coral were sound asleep. She gently stroked their soft baby hairs and left to find her dad. Of course she found him in his study.

"Daddy, are you in here behind all these tomes?" Marissa joked as Nabu looked up from the large spellbook spread open on his desk.

"Hey, Mar," he said, pulling off his reading glasses and setting them aside. Marissa perched herself on the small corner of his desk that wasn't covered in papers. He asked, "What brings you here?"

Marissa laughed and answered, "I'm leaving, Daddy."

"Oh, that's right! You start Alfea today," he said, sitting back in his cushy leather seat. "Wow. It seems like just yesterday you were wearing my crown as a necklace as you sat on my throne."

"Daddy, that was one time and I was three," Marissa corrected, rolling her eyes fondly.

"I can't believe how big you've gotten."

She gave him a small smile in response and stood from the desk, leaning down to wrap her arms around him.

"Bye, Daddy."

"Bye, Mar."

He summoned a portal and Marissa stepped through with her bags floating behind her.

* * *

 **Hey, guys! I know what you're thinking: "A new next gen? When will this chick stop?"**

 **Well, technically, this isn't a new next gen. I'm just revamping an awful, awful, awful first draft that went a little like this:**

 **"Jane woke up and opened her blue eyed and brushed her red hair. She got dressed in a pair of light wash skinny jeans and a breezy white tank top with spaghetti straps and two draw string on the front tied into a bow. Her brown sandals had a small heel and colorful beads on the strap going over her toes. She went downstairs, ate breakfast, and went to Alfea."**

 **So yeah, revamp! Yay! And to answer your second question, I will never stop. Mwahahaha!**

 **These are the three princesses. Let's see how the three normal fairies start their day.**

 **Please review with which princess is your favorite. And feel free to ask questions!**


	2. prologue two: the non-princesses

**Tell me in the comments who your favorite Winx ship is and why!**

* * *

 **Ace**

Acacia was up early to do her makeup and water the many plants in her room when a ficus brushed her hand and reminded her that today was her first day of school. Dropping the watering can in shock, she rushed to her closet and threw on a yellow skirt with a white blouse. She hastily pulled her long black hair into a messy ponytail. After a lot of digging, she found her favorite beige pink flats in the back of her closet and slipped them on. Waving goodbye to her plants, she grabbed her suitcase and ran to the kitchen where her father and little sister were making breakfast with Chatta, her mother's pixie.

"I completely forgot about Alfea," Acacia confesses in a rush as she dropped into her seat at the table and Juniper placed a plate in front of her. Acacia hurriedly ate it all and kissed her little sister on the forehead. "Thanks, Junie."

Juniper grinned from ear to ear and tucked a loose strand of honey brown hair into her headband. Flora walked in and hugged them both.

"My big girl, finally going to Alfea," the nature fairy gushed. "I'm so proud of you."

"We're both so proud of you," Helia added, wrapping an arm around Flora's shoulders. "Go show the world what you can do."

"Thanks, guys," Acacia said, her tan skin turning a bashful shade of red. "I have to get going though."

"Of course," her mother winked. She summoned a green portal and Acacia said goodbye to her family before stepping through to the beginning of her new life.

* * *

 **Piper**

Piper screamed and fell out of bed when the radio started blasting in her room. Looking up, she saw her dad laughing in her doorway with a boombox on his shoulder.

"Dad!"

"Yes, daughter dearest?"

"Not funny!" she yelled. "Get out!"

He laughed, but he left the room, closing the door behind himself. Rolling her eyes, Piper left her comforter and sheets a mess on the floor as she crossed the hall to the bathroom and brushed her teeth. Brushing her hair, she fought with her stupid bangs and finally pulled her long navy blue hair into a messy bun on top of her head. Heading back over to her room, she spent forever choosing her bra and underwear before finally settling on a lacy magenta set. Quickly she changed into tiny jean shorts, fishnets, purple converse, and a cropped hoodie. Stuffing one hand on her back pocket, she used the other to sling her guitar case over her back and grab her suitcase.

When she walked into the kitchen, her mother had finished making her favorite breakfast, vegan French toast and strawberry-infused oatmeal, while Return to Me played over the radio. Musa had told her once that this song had been a favorite of her late grandmother Matlin. Piper's narrow eyes started watering as the lyrics took on a new meaning.

 _"Walking my childhood shore_

 _I miss you so_

 _Mama my music's yours_

 _I cry 'till the water's blue_

 _Where whales still sing_

 _Remember when we sang it too"_

Musa wrapped her arms around her daughter's pale shoulders and whispered in her ear, "I am so proud of you for getting into Alfea. I cannot wait to see the woman you become."

"Mom," Piper said with a watery voice.

"C'mon, don't cry or I'll cry," Riven said, wrapping his arms around the both of them. Piper laughed and hid her crying face in her dad's chest.

"Okay, that's enough tears," Musa said, wiping her eyes and pulling away. "This is a happy day. The big day. The big day!"

Piper laughed and wiped her own tears as her mom opened the portal to Alfea.

"And you have everything?" Riven asked. "Pocket knife? Wrist knife? Boot knife? Jack knife?"

Piper laughed again and pulled her pocket knife out of her hoodie pocket, saying, "I think this one is all I need."

With that, she stepped through the portal.

* * *

 **Delta**

"Hey, mush-for-brains," Siggy greeted as he poked his head into Delta's room.

"Sig, get out!" Delta screeched, covering her body with the closet door.

He covered his teal eyes and stepped further into the room.

"I just wanted to tell you that Dad has the Particle Dematerializer open and Mom has to go to work soon, so you better come down."

"Well, you better get out, so I can get dressed," the teenage fairy seethed.

"Duly noted," he said as he ducked out. Delta rolled her eyes and pulled on her ripped black leggings, putting on a tight long-sleeved shirt and a pair of boots to go with it. She put on her long silver chain with the Digidex at the end. She pulled her purple hair into two long braids and put on some long silver earrings and silver chain bangles. She grabbed her suitcase and rushed to the living room, where the goodbyes were short but heartfelt.

"Okay, this is it," Tecna said with a wide grin. "Goodbye, Delta. I love you."

"Love you!" Siggy chimed and Timmy rubbed her shoulder in extra reassurance.

"Bye, guys," Delta said with a wave as she stepped through the portal.

* * *

 **So basically, I'll be updating this at the beginning and end of every week in pairs. You'll understand once the first few chapters come in. The story will have three acts, each coming in six chapters, with intermissions in between.**

 **Comment with your favorite girl from this chapter and don't forget to vote!**


	3. i: oh, have you seen the fairies dance

**Tell me in the comments about your next gen!**

* * *

 **Jane**

Jane watched in wonder as Faragonda descended the staircase slowly. All around here in the entrance hall, freshmen fairy started whispering to each other about the headmistress. When she reached the bottom, the room fell silent and her lips quirked up in a knowing smile.

"Welcome all to Alfea."

The headmistress began her speech, but Jane didn't hear any of it because a finger hooked in her belt loop and tugged her to the back of the crowd. Suddenly, all she could see was bronze eyes and sunkissed skin.

"Hey, Jane!" the much taller girl said in a loud whisper.

I peered up and whispered back, "Hi, Sylvia."

She cringed and corrected, "Just Sylvie."

Faragonda mentioned something about finding a team and establishing a club to reach a common goal, but Jane didn't hear it because of Sylvie. She reached behind herself and pulled a tan girl with ridiculously good makeup forward. The girl waved shyly.

"Hi. I'm Acacia," she said in a soft flowery voice.

"I'm Jane," Jane responded, holding out a hand. She took it and tentatively shook.

"Ugh, Acacia is such a mouthful. You're Ace now," Sylvie declared bluntly.

Acacia looked taken aback but then smiled slowly.

"Ace," she echoed, trying it out on her tongue. "I like it."

In the front, Faragonda was saying something about the Hero Program where specialists and fairies pair up for missions. The fairies nearby chattered excitedly about meeting boys. Jane rolled her eyes.

"Good. Moving on..." Sylvie said, reaching into the crowd with another hand, "this is Marissa."

She pulled out a girl with a tattered sweatshirt five times too big for her and owlish gold glasses.

"Oh, uh, hey. Aren't you Princess Jane? From Domino?" the girl asked.

"And you're Princess Marissa from Andros."

"And I'm Princess Sylvie from Solaria," Sylvie said, inserting herself into the conversation with a megawatt smile.

"And I'm from Lynphea," Ace finished lamely.

They all laughed but the excited chatter of the crowd pulled their attention back to Faragonda. A crowd was forming around her.

"Sylvie, what's going on?" Jane asked the tall girl.

Sylvie stood on her tiptoes and said, "I think... guys! We're getting our pixies!"

"Really? So soon?" Marissa asked.

The girl shifted in the crowd and Jane got a direct view into the center of the crowd. Faragonda was surrounded by tiny, floating pixies who were giggling excitedly amongst themselves.

"Step forward and discover your bond," Faragonda said. Everyone looked around, knowing that if they all stepped forward at once it would be total chaos.

After a few seconds of this indecision, a stuffy voice said, "Fine. I'll do it."

A girl with two purple braids stepped forward towards Faragonda and the pixies. Sylvie gasped.

"It's her."

"Who?" Jane asked, not recognizing the girl in ripped leggings. A flash of light drew her attention back to the front.

The light died down to reveal a girl with purple braids talking to a small pixie dressed all in white with a blindfold around her eyes.

Faragonda announced, "Delta of Zenith, you have just bonded with Columba, the Pixie of Justice."

The fairies all started chatteringly excitedly amongst themselves about bonding to a pixie. The pixies did the same. Sylvie gripped Jane tightly by the arm and started pulling her into the crowd towards the pixies. In her rush, she nearly mowed over a girl with pale skin and a black topknot.

"Woah, cool it," the girl said, straightening her jacket.

Sylvie shrugged and apologized. Jane held out a hand like she had for Ace.

"I'm Jane of Domino. Sorry about Sylvie."

The girl regarded Jane warily before taking her hand.

"I'm Piper of Melody."

"Melody? Where's that?"

"The Harmonic Nebula."

"Oh, I should have guessed."

"Yeah, it's small."

"Enough with the small talk!" Sylvie exclaimed frustratedly over the din of the entrance hall. "I want to bond with a pixie!"

"I'm not stopping you," Jane said sincerely to the random girl. "You can go ahead."

"If you're going to be my new best friend for the rest of our academic careers, you _have_ to be there to see me and my pixie bonding," Sylvie explained with a pout.

"Okay, okay, I'm coming."

"You too, Piper."

"Wait, what?" the stylish girl asked.

Sylvie sighed and said, "Nevermind. I'll find you later."

Sylvie pushed forward to the front of the crowd where another fairy was bonded to a pixie with bright hair that was flashing in different rainbow colors. Looking over her shoulder, Jane saw that the other girls she had met earlier- Ace and Marissa- were following behind them. That made her smile.

They finally reached the edge and Sylvie squealed in excitement.

"I can't believe this is finally happening."

She slowly eased out into the sea of pixies while Jane, Marissa, and Ace watched from the sidelines as she was approached by a darkly dressed pixie with large, twinkling eyes. Jane could see the disappointment all over her newfound friend's face.

Sylvie said something dejectedly, but the pixie's reply made her gasp and grin. They were swallowed by a bright light and when the light died down, Sylvie came rushing back to them.

"Guys, this is Poe," she said ecstatically. "He's the Pixie of Outer Space."

The pale pixie nodded in acknowledgement so the three fairies nodded back. He was wearing heavy black clothes, ripped in multiple places. His bangs came down over one eye but the other eye was heavily lined in black and so big that you could practically see the whole universe glittering in his dark iris. Jane had to blink and look away so that she didn't become dizzy.

"You have to try it," Sylvie urged. Nearby, another fairy and pixie were bonded. "It's absolutely amazing."

They all looked at each other warily, wondering who would go next.

"I'll go," a voice behind them begrudgingly said. Before anyone could say anything, Piper shoved past them and into the quickly dwindling crowd of pixies. She didn't have to travel far before she was stopped by a redheaded pixie with makeup as dramatic as Sylvie, but in a completely different way. This time, Jane was close enough to hear their exchange.

"I'm Piper."

"I'm Roxanne, Pixie of Rock 'n Roll!" the dark pixie announced loudly in what Jane recognized as a Welsh accent as if she were standing in front of a crowd. She strummed on an air guitar. Her clothes were dark and ripped like Poe's but with bright slogans all over them. Her wings were flashing like neon lights.

The corner of Piper's lip quirked up as she replied, "You're a regular bottle rocket."

Then they were engulfed in light and Jane couldn't catch anymore of their exchange. She was distracted by a small blue light barreling towards them.

A pixie on a surfboard barreled into Marissa's chest and knocked them both down to the ground. Marissa groaned and propped herself up by her elbows, looking dazedly at the pixie sitting on her chest. The pixie had a head of light brown curls with a flower behind her ear and tan skin. Her skirt was long and flowy with a sea green bikini top. She blinked her big brown eyes slowly.

She giggled and said, "Sorry about that. I'm Lana, Pixie of Surfing."

Rubbing her head, Marissa said, "I'm Marissa, Princess of Andros."

"Wow, look at those worry lines," Lana said, crawling up Marissa's body to smooth down the wrinkles on her head while Marissa watched in bewilderment. "You need to chill, dude."

"You are so cute!" Marissa replied with a laugh.

The rest of the exchange was lost to Jane as the bright bonding light enveloped them. Behind her, a light was dying down and left Ace and a tan pixie dressed head to toe in camo in its wake.

"Jane, this is Jericho, Pixie of War," Ace said, gesturing to the brunet pixie with a toothpick in his mouth. Jane waved and Jericho grunted in response, squinting his dark green eyes threateningly. Jane stepped back.

Faragonda announced, "Once you've bonded with your pixie, head upstairs where senior fairies will help direct you to your dorm."

When no one moved, she urged, "Girls, don't wait for your friends. They'll be up shortly."

Most girls left and everyone around Jane was either bonded or getting bonded until she was left in an empty room.

"I don't understand."

Mrs. Faragonda sighed and said, "For some fairies, bonding isn't meant to be. Go join your friends."

Dejectedly, Jane trudged up the steps. She turned the corner, surprised to find the other girls waiting for her as well as the purple-haired girl who had been the first to bond to a pixie. Upon closer inspection, she saw that the purple-haired had hazel eyes, an upturned nose, and a beautiful emerald necklace that caught Jane's eyes.

"Jane, look!" Sylvie said excitedly, but her face dropped when she saw that Jane was alone. "Where's your pixie?"

Jane rubbed her arm awkwardly. Faragonda turned the corner and jumped in surprise.

"Girls, you should be- wait."

She looked over the six of them curiously.

"I wasn't aware that you were all aquatinted."

"We aren't," spat the purple-haired girl- Adele or Adolpha or something.

"Delta, I already told you who we are," Sylvie argued.

"No, you told me who _you_ are. Why won't you let us go up to our dorm?"

"Girls, do you really not know your connection to each other?" Mrs. Faragonda asked in surprise. "You're all daughters of the Winx Club. That's why you're all in the same dorm room."

"Wait, we're in the same dorm?" Marissa asked, looking around in disbelief.

"That's what I've been trying to tell them!" Sylvie exclaimed as the rest of them stared at Faragonda in shock.

"So, your mom... was one of the women my mom saved the Magic Dimension with?" Jane asked Sylvie who nodded excitedly.

"All of our moms were in the Winx Club."

"Which makes you girls the next generation of the Winx Club," Mrs. Faragonda explained with a curious look on her face. "I wonder... girls, come with me to my office."

She went ahead past the group, who shared a doubtful look before following her down the hall.

* * *

 **Okay, so opinions on pixies? Votes for my stories? Possibly share. Thanks, guys.**


	4. ii: upon a summer's night

**Tell me in the reviews about your favorite thing about your favorite OC!**

* * *

 **Sylvie**

Faragonda's office was big and the light pouring in through the giant window made everything a shimmery shade of rose-gold that had even Sylvie go silent in awe. The six girls stood around her desk as she took a seat in her large chair. The pixies stayed outside.

"I'm going to cut to the chase," she said immediately, startling them. "I have a problem and I don't know who else to go to for help."

Jane asked with a curious look, "How are we supposed to help you with anything? We haven't even started yet."

"You're the daughters of the Winx Club," Mrs. Faragonda explained. "Also, it's a secret."

"What's the problem, Headmistress?" Marissa asked.

"The other night, the Sisterhood of the Lamplight stole Enodia's crystal ball from the Hall of Relics and I need you girls to retrieve it."

"Sisterhood of the Lamplight?"

"Enodia?"

"Crystal ball?"

"Hall of relics?"

"Girls, I understand that this is confusing, but please bear with me," Faragonda implored as she stood from her seat. She reached beneath her desk and pulled out a golden box.

Sylvie asked, "Is that-"

"The Agador box," Faragonda finished.

"What's that?" Piper asked at the same time Sylvie started freaking out.

"Omd, omd, omd, omd!" Sylvie squealed in excitement. "I can't believe it! This is the box Valtor used to take over the Magical Dimension!"

The rest of the girls took a step back, knowing that name very well.

"I learned about him in school," Delta said. "Isn't he, like, super evil?"

"He was," Faragonda said in agreement. "But your mothers defeated him."

She opened the box to reveal six tiny golden pairs of fairy wings, but they were larger and more intricate than most fairy wings.

"Those are Enchantix wings," Delta said, fingering her necklace. "It's the ultimate fairy transformation."

"Correct, Delta," Faragonda said with a knowing glint in her eyes that made Sylvie curious. "And it was the transformation each of your mothers gained to defeated him."

She reached in and pulled out a pair of gold wings, this one covered in blue stones.

"Bloom, Fairy of the Dragon Flame," she announced as she handed it to Jane.

In her freckled hand, it transformed into a different pair of wings with no jewels. The bottom of one of the wings looked tattered.

"Did I break it?" Jane asked worriedly.

"No, dear," Faragonda said with a sad smile. "These are your Enchantix wings."

"What's wrong with them?"

"You'll learn soon enough," she answered cryptically, reaching in for the next set of wings. Her fingers settled around a pair of wings with red and yellow stones. Sylvie grew excited, recognizing her mother's Enchantix wings from the pictures scattered all over her bedroom wall.

"Stella, Fairy of the Shining Sun," Faragonda announced as she placed the gold wings in Sylvie's suntanned palm.

Sylvie watched in amazement as the angel-esque wings turned upward and outward into crescent moons. The bright stones were replaced with shimmery sapphires and moonstones.

"Aisha, Fairy of Waves."

Sylvie looked up from her set of wings to watch as Farahonda handed Marissa a pair of rounded, green-stoned, gold wings. In her dark hand, they became sharper, with pointed edges and blood red stones.

"Flora, Fairy of Nature."

Ace gently took the wings in her tan hand, watching as the pink and green gems became yellow and as the gold frame rounded out like flower petals.

"Musa, Fairy of Music."

Faragonda handed Piper the golden wings and watched as the square edges became curled and the magenta stones turned into a grayish lilac.

"And lastly, Tecna, the Fairy of Technology."

Delta took the wings in her pale hands. The sharp lines of her mother's wings fanned out and the purple gems turned green.

"These are your keys to the Hall of Enchantments," Faragonda said as she turned to the floor-length mirror on the wall.

"I thought you said it was stolen from the Hall of Relics," Ace asked.

"It was. Girls, hold up your keys."

Tentatively, the six girls held up their golden Enchantix wings and watched as the mirror disappeared to reveal a staircase leading down into the school.

"Woah," Sylvie mouthed.

Faragonda led them down through the mirror to a large foyer beneath the school. In the center was a larger-than-life circular bookshelf with two hallways on either side. Along the walls were paintings and documents in frames.

"Headmistress, where are we?" Jane asked.

"Can you keep a secret, girls?"

They all shared a look like they had when she asked them to follow her to her office. Slowly they nodded.

"This is the Hall of Enchantments. Very few people know of its existence- people like your mothers," Faragonda explained. "That is why you are the only ones I can trust with this. Enodia's crystal ball is not the only thing that the Sisterhood of the Lamplight has stolen from the Hall of Relics, also a secret. Cloudtower has only been in school for a week and those witches have already stolen a very powerful spellbook and a forbidden cauldron. Those relics are too powerful to be in the hands of evil. I need you girls to retrieve them."

"Us? How are we supposed to do anything?" Jane asked.

Faragonda sighed and Sylvie suddenly saw how desperate she was.

"I cannot risk anyone finding out about these relics existing," Faragonda said wearily. "If you take on this mission, you need to understand that you can't tell anybody about what you're doing. You girls will be excused from some assignments and classes, but you will need to gain your Charmix by the end of the week and your Enchantix by the end of the first quarter."

The girls just stared at her slack-jawed, but she plowed ahead, reaching behind herself to pull a tome off the bookshelf.

"This is the Great Book of Fairies, filled with every transformation a fairy can achieve."

"I thought the number was infinite," Delta said.

"You are correct," Faragonda said, "but this book, like many others in this library, is also infinite."

She flipped to a page with a dark transformation with a hood and ribbons.

"This is Occultix. To succeed in this particular mission, you girls will need to achieve Occultix."

"What exactly is this mission?" Sylvie asked, rubbing at the goosebumps on her arms. She had been dreaming of this moment for years, but now that it was finally here, she couldn't help feeling anxious.

Faragonda handed the Great Book of Fairies to Marissa and pulled another, thinner book from the shelf. This one was thin with a silver lock. Using her magic, she summoned a key and opened it, revealing pages and pages worth of a list.

"This is the Census of Covens. Every coven in the Magic Dimension is listed in this book along with whether or not it is still active and where it can be found," she explained, flipping to the first page which had most of the covens crossed out. "At the beginning, you will find the earliest covens. Most are now extinct, but the Sisterhood of the Lamplight is still functioning, as well as the Cult of the Midnight Moon."

Sylvie felt a chill go down her spine.

Faragonda flipped to the back of the book and pointed out a name circled in red.

"The Obsidian Coven, however, is fairly recent, founded just before the rise of the Winx Club."

The name shimmered.

"It has been very active. Most of the covens are. The magical high society wants answers and I need you girls to get them, starting with discovering what the Sisterhood of the Lamplight is up to."

She put the Census and the Great Book of Fairies back on the shelf and headed back up the stairs. At her desk, she asked, "Are you girls willing to accept your mission?"

There was silence before Sylvie finally said, "I will."

The others nodded and Faragonda released a sigh of relief.

"Good. Keep those keys to access the Hall of Enchantments. Tell no one of your mission."

"Not even our parents?"

"Not even your parents, Acacia. Only your pixies and the heroes you choose to assist you in your mission can know. And of course, Griselda and I, but try not to come to us very often to avoid suspicion," Faragonda explained. She closed the Agador box and put it back in her desk. Each girl pocketed their key.

"For now, girls," Faragonda said with a small smile, "go get ready for the dance tonight. We'll be inviting Red Fountain boys, so take it as an opportunity to stake out which specialists you want by your side on this mission. Also, consider a name for your club. I suggest the Winx Club, but I understand why that could be uncomfortable."

They all nodded and turned to leave. Just then, the doors burst open and a girl with brown hair and pursed lips strode into the room.

"Headmistress-" she began in a nasally voice.

"Ah, Laverna!" Faragonda said. "These are the daughters of the Winx Club."

She looked them over uninterestedly before saying, "Yeah, cool. Anyway, the seniors are pulling pranks on the incoming freshmen and it's causing a stir in the cafeteria."

"I'll handle this," the headmistress announced, heading out of her office in a flurry and leaving the girls alone with Laverna. Slowly the pixies floated into the room.

"Um, hi. I'm Jane," the redhead greeted, holding out a freckled arm to the tan fairy.

Laverna looked down at her hand in disdain.

"I'm Lav, Fairy of Illusions and this is Peebo, Pixie of Bunnies."

A baby pixie with blonde pigtails and dark skin crawled up onto Lav's shoulder and sat there contently.

"Okay, that was great," Lav said with a clap of her hands. "Hopefully we never have to speak again."

She turned on her heel and strode out of the office leaving the six girls bewildered.

"Well, she wasn't particularly sweet," Ace remarked, making the rest of them giggle.

"Forget about her!" Sylvie said excitedly. "We have a dance to get ready for!"

The girls and pixies laughed and walked out of the office, carrying their new mission on their chests like a weight on their hearts. Sylvie hoped a dance would be enough to pull them together as a team. Not pull them apart like picking their rooms was going.

Jericho whispered something in Ace's ear.

"I need a window bed for my plants!" Ace argued after listening to her pixie, stomping her Mary Janes. Sylvie so far thought she was adorable, but she wasn't going to undermine her by voicing that out loud.

"Well, I need the room with the most shelves," Delta countered. Columba bit her nails in worry, unable to see what was going on but knowing that her fairy was stirring up trouble.

"No, because that's the room with most outlets," Piper argued, throwing her bags onto that room's bed.

"What do you need outlets for?" Delta asked, waving an accusatory finger in Piper.

"Stuff."

"Yeah, stuff!" Roxanne cheered after her, pumping her fist in the air.

"Wow, enlightening," Delta snarked, throwing her own bags onto the bed next to Piper's. Columba jumped off the bed to avoid getting hit and flew over to Jericho, but he snarled at her so she flew back into the wall and sat on the window ledge.

"Guys, don't fight," Marissa said quietly, but no one listened. She held her temples as she rubbed away a blossoming headache. Lana kissed her on the forehead and Marissa gave her a small grateful smile.

Sylvie felt sympathetic for the girl, so she stuck her fingers in her mouth and whistled as loud as she could, which was pretty loud. Poe winced, as did everybody else, and glared at her.

"Let Jane pick where we sleep since Jane's the leader," Sylvie suggested.

"No way," Jane protested when everybody looked to her. "Why am I the leader?"

"Because your mom is Bloom, the leader of the Winx Club," Sylvie said matter-of-factly. "You have to be leader."

"Well, what about you?" Jane asked, desperately trying to deflect the attention from herself. "Your mom's the ruler of the biggest kingdom in the Magic Dimension."

Sylvie rubbed her arms self-consciously and replied, "That doesn't matter here. That's not what the Winx Club is about."

In his cold monotone, Poe said, "Just give it a shot, Jane."

Sylvie smiled at him and he shrugged, pretending that he didn't care. She laughed and pinched his cheek, making him glare again and push her fingers away.

The girls looked at Jane expectantly, so Jane sighed and said, "We could move another bed into the room that Piper and Delta want."

The two girls looked at each other and nodded, taking the redhead by surprise. Gaining confidence, she suggested, "Marissa can have the window bed so that she's farthest from the door like she requested."

"What about Ace's plants?" Jericho argued, pulling his toothpick out of his mouth to wave it threateningly at Jane.

"Ace could have the bed by the wall, but free reign of the balcony."

Jericho sat back satisfied and Ace grinned, grabbing her plants and rushing to set them up on the balcony. Jane smiled, pleased with herself. Poe gave Sylvie a thumbs up.

"I guess that means we get the room by the door," Jane said, carting her backs over there.

"Perfect for sneaking out late at night," Sylvie said with a snicker.

"We are not doing that."

"The year's still young."

* * *

 **So, what do you think of the mission? Crazy, right? And what about the room arrangements? Do you think Jane will be a good leader? Get ready to meet the heroes next chapter.**

 **Also, please review. Maybe share it too.**


	5. iii: and watched the pixies prance

**Tell me in the reviews about your favorite Winx Club season!**

 **Sorry that this is a day late.**

* * *

 **Marissa**

"Are you girls ready?" Sylvie asked from somewhere in the center of the room, but Marissa couldn't tear her eyes away from the mirror long enough to answer her. She was too busy scanning for any faults or shortcomings that she hadn't already caught.

A glance behind her revealed Sylvie's flowy blue dress, covered in stars that made her look like the night sky. On one shoulder she had glittering stars and on the other shining crescent moons. Her hair was styled into a golden braided headband. With heels, the Solarian was ridiculously tall.

"I'm good to go," Piper said, walking out of her room with her short hair in an intricate updo. She delicately stepped around the pile of sleeping pixies. Her dress was velvet, floor-length, and black with a turtleneck and long sleeves. Somehow, she made it work in an alternative, hipster sort of way.

Marissa couldn't help comparing herself to shorter girl because she herself had chosen a basic, red prom dress with a sweetheart neckline and an empire waistline. She fingered her humble pearls and fussed over her low maintenance half up/half down hairstyle.

Ace came up behind her, putting her hands on her hips to say, "You look fantastic, Marissa. You shouldn't second guess yourself."

Marissa fought the urge to roll her eyes and say something sarcastic, but it was difficult when Ace looked so effortlessly beautiful. Her dress came in two pieces, exposing a strip of tan skin between her yellow, boho skirt and her green, flowered top. Her hair fell in effortless waves with a white flower crown to match the flowers on her shirt. And of course, her makeup was wonderful.

Delta walked out of her room, fastening her dangling emerald earrings. Her dress was a dark green with strategic triangular cutouts in alluring places. Her purple hair sat in a sophisticated bun on the back of her head and her ever-present emerald necklace hung around her neck.

Marissa commented, "Delta, those cutouts are... wow."

Delta stopped fussing with her jewelry and began, "Well, it's my dress, so I don't see why you should have any say in it. Back off."

The air in the room ceased up as the tension skyrocketed. Sylvie, Ace, and Piper watched as Marissa panicked at the miscommunication. They could not start off on a bad foot and end up living together for the rest of the school year.

"No, I didn't- I just meant-"

Suddenly, Lana was by her side, placing a calming hand on her shoulder. Marissa took a deep breath.

"What I meant was that you look beautiful."

Delta's hazel eyes went wide before her face dropped back into an aloof expression.

"Oh, er, yeah. Thanks."

Thankfully, Jane walked in and changed the subject.

"Jane, what are you doing in your jeans still?" Ace asked. The redhead fidgeted under the gaze of her dorm mates.

"I didn't know there would be a dance, so I didn't pack a dress," she explained. Before they could protest, she held up a hand and said, "You girls go ahead. I'll get a headstart on unpacking."

"No way," Sylvie argued. "I'll summon an old dress from the palace."

Before Jane could get a word in edgewise, Sylvie snapped her fingers and she was engulfed in a pale light. When it faded, Jane was wrapped in a gold dress from head to toe. She spun around and Marissa saw that the back dipped down to the base of her spine.

"Oh, Sylvie," Jane breathed in awe as she made her way to the mirror. Marissa stepped back so that Jane could see herself in the scaly dress. As a princess, Marissa had worn some extravagant and beautiful outfits before, but this dress was in another caliber. The neckline dipped down elegantly and a slit in the side led to the top of her thigh. Marissa could barely catch a breath because every time the dress caught the light, she had to gasp.

"Sylvie, this is beautiful, but I haven't even begun to get ready. I'll never be done in time," Jane said.

"Not alone you won't," Piper suggested. Marissa turned to her in shock, surprised that the brooding fairy would have something to say. "I have a set of lingerie that could work well with that dress."

"I can do your makeup," Ace offered with an excited glint in her green eyes.

"I'm thinking of a side braid," Sylvie said, framing Jane's face with her fingers. "What do you think girls?"

"I have a pair of gold shoes you can borrow," Marissa said, remembering the footwear left over from before mentioned extravagant outfits.

They all turned to Delta who had just been watching from the sidelines. She just squirmed beneath their gaze before finally caving and saying, "I have a lot of accessories you can pick from."

By the time they were finished, Jane looked like a dragon goddess with sharp gold makeup and gold jewelry dripping from her body. Her hair pooled over her shoulder like molten lava.

"Jane, you look amazing!" Sylvie squealed, bursting their eardrums.

"Thanks, guys," she said bashfully. She twirled in the mirror. "I feel like a princess."

"Girl, you are a princess," Delta said with a smirk.

They laughed and filed out, chattering about the night ahead. When she saw Jane lingering by the vanity, Marissa stayed behind.

"Jane, is something wrong?"

Jane shook her head and took a seat, hiking her dress up to the top of her thigh. Grabbing her bandana off the vanity, she tied it around her upper thigh.

Looking up, she explained, "For something familiar."

Arm in arm, they caught up with the others in the glittering ballroom. Later in the night, when the Red Fountain boys arrived, Sylvie was introducing Marissa and Jane to her twin brother.

"I'm Crown Prince Orlando of Solaria," he introduced, leaning down to kiss each of their hands. "Pleasure."

"The pleasure is mine," Marissa responded reflexively. "I'm Crown Princess Marissa of Andros."

"Princess Jane of Eraklyon," Jane added with a curtsy. He looked her up and down lasciviously, but his gaze was soon caught by Ace passing by.

"Who was that sweet thing?" the brunet muttered under his breath. Glaring, Sylvie elbowed him.

"Ow."

"Don't hit on my friends."

"Sorry. I didn't know she was one of yours," he said, holding up his hands in surrender. "I'll behave myself, promise. While we're on the topic, sister dearest, let me point out whose off limits: the blond over there sucking the face off of that ginger, the violet-haired loser sulking by the punch bowl, and the howling idiot with the jocks."

"Names please," Sylvie said with a scowl.

"Blondie is Prince William of Thordal, Eraklyon," Orlando explained, pointing to the chiseled jock playing tonsil hockey with Cathleen, Fairy of Rivers. Turning his gaze on the darkly tanned specialist with violet curls styled in an undercut, he said, "That is Hanale of Whisperia in the Omega System, but call him Lee unless you want to get tidal waved."

"The Omega System?" Sylvie said with a mischievous grin. "Why, Arlo, you know how I am about bad boys."

He scowled and carried on, pointing to the smaller tan boy laughing up a riot with much larger and older specialists. He said, "That's Prince Mica of Isis, Eraklyon. Stay off of him too."

"I'm pretty sure we've met," Sylvie said in interest.

"You have. But step off."

"Right back at you, brother dear."

Orlando stomped away.

"What was that about?" Jane asked.

As Sylvie explained the deal she had with her brother, Marissa sought out Ace, who was being bombarded by a frustrated Laverna.

"All I'm saying is that they could have had the decency to let us know they'd be late.

I mean, seriously? No music at a dance? People are going to think I'm a joke. I mean, what are they supposed to dance to? It's absolutely ridiculous."

"It'll be fine, Lav," Ace offered, but the white witch was not having it.

"Fine? It will not be fine!"

Just then the sound of a bass filled the room, followed by steady percussion. Everyone turned towards the stage where four boys were playing a song. The three fairies were standing fairly close to the stage, so she could make out the band members fairly well.

"Finally!" Lav said, storming backstage.

The three instrumentalists looked strangely out of place, with glasses and bow ties, while the lead singer fit the label to a tee. Actually, he looked a lot like a boy version of...

"Coda?"

The lead singer turned to them but looked right over their heads. Turning around, Marissa saw Piper staring at the boy in awe. Turning back, the leader singer- Coda- just stared back with hard eyes, but they softened when he saw Ace. It seemed like he was singing the next lines to her.

 _"She ain't either pink or pale,_

 _She'll never be all mine;_

 _She stepped out of a fairytale,_

 _Her mouth's a valentine."_

Ace swooned, but behind her, Piper huffed and stormed away. Marissa hurried after her.

"Piper, what's up? Do you know him?"

"No."

"Piper, seriously-"

"Just drop it, Marissa. It's not your problem."

"If it's your problem-"

"We aren't friends."

"Yes, we are," Marissa insisted. "Whether you like it or not, we have to be friends. It's the only way we're getting out of this year alive."

Piper fell silent. Reluctantly, she admitted, "He's my brother."

Marissa's eyes went wide, but she stayed quiet because she sensed there was more to the story.

"He dropped out a while back and my parents want me to bring him home."

Piper crossed her arms and Marissa knew she was done talking.

"That must be tough," Marissa started, "but you're tough. I'll help you any way I can."

Looking over Marissa's shoulder, Piper quipped, "I don't think I'm the one who will need help."

Turning back around, Marissa saw that Ace was now at the base of the stage and Coda was now leaned down, singing directly to her.

 _"She loves me all that she can,_

 _And her heart's got me resigned;_

 _But she wasn't made for any man,_

 _And she'll never be all mine."_

"That boy will chew her up and spit her out."

Nearby, a shrieky voice drew my attention to Orlando and Sylvie getting into a fight over an irate Delta.

"Okay, you handle Ace and I'll get Sylvie," Marissa said.

"Just let them be," Piper shrugged. "They're big girls."

"No. We're friends now, Piper. Friends don't let friends get chewed up and spit out."

She thought for a moment and then turned on her heel and stalked towards the stage. Marissa gave a small smile before making her way towards the twins and Delta.

As she neared, she heard Sylvie say, "We have a _deal,_ Arlo."

"I know, I'm sorry, it's just-"

He cut himself off and turned his eyes to Delta, who had her arms crossed in disgust.

"Don't even start, Princey," Delta said irately. "Don't pin this on me."

He smiled charmingly and said, "How can I be expected to keep my hands to myself when you came here looking like that?"

"No way," Sylvie argued. "Don't blame this on her. This isn't her fault. It's because you're a little hoe who doesn't follow the rules!"

"Woah, guys, maybe we should take a few breaths," Marissa said upon reaching the group.

"How about I just leave instead?" Delta spat, turning on her heel and stalking away.

"What was her name?" Orlando asked, never taking his eyes off her retreating figure.

Sylvie rolled her eyes and replied, "It doesn't matter because she's off limits."

"You guys didn't even seem like friends," Orlando argued.

"We're not," Sylvie said stiffly. "We're just... teammates."

"Teammates were never off limits."

"No, it's not- it's more than that. We're going to be friends."

"Going to be friends?"

"We're going to spend a lot of time with each other."

"What do you mean?"

"The girls and I-"

"Sylvie," Marissa interrupted with a warning look. "Remember what Faragonda said."

"No, Marissa. I want him to be my hero."

"What?" Orlando said in confusion.

"Are you sure?" Marissa asked.

"There's no one I trust more in the world," Sylvie explained.

"Really?" Marissa asked. "Because I second ago, it sounded like you didn't trust him around Delta at all."

"So her name's Delta," Orlando said in interest, finding her across the room with his gold eyes. She was surrounded by the jocks from earlier and Jane was trying to pull her away. It looked like Mica was convincing them to stay.

"Hey, you," Sylvie warned. "Off limits."

"Oh, come on, Syl," Orlando begged. "It wouldn't be for real. You know I like a challenge."

"Oh, gross," Sylvie gagged. "You know rule number 5: we don't talk about that stuff."

"Thank you! That was the Codemen!" Laverna announced from the stage. "Thank you so much for coming out to the dance today! Please enjoy the rest of your evening."

Pixies flew in to begin picking up and fairies and specialists began filing out. Marissa sought out their friends. Jane found them first and came up to them, giggling like a schoolgirl and dragging Delta behind her.

"I think I found my hero," she said with a loopy smile. "His name's William."

"Okay, wait, hero for what?" Orlando asked.

Looking at Marissa, Delta, and Jane for assurance, Sylvie replied, "We're going on a mission."

"Whose we?"

"Jane, Marissa, Ace, Piper, Delta, and I."

"Delta's going? I'll go."

Delta glared and turned to leave again, but Jane grabbed her by the wrist and stopped her.

"You're going anyway, because I'm your sister," Sylvie said flatly. "And hands off of Delta."

"Whatever. I'll ask the guys if they'll go."

"Pose it hypothetically," Marissa said panickedly. "Nobody can know about this mission."

"What exactly is it?"

The three girls looked at each other. Finally, Jane said, "We're stealing something back from Cloudtower."

"You're kidding."

"Nope. That's the job," Sylvie said flatly.

"No one can know, Orlando," Marissa insisted.

"Okay, okay. I won't tell anyone."

"Won't tell anybody what?" Mica asked as he walked up. He was thin and not as tall as Orlando but still taller than the girls- excluding Sylvie. His hair was brown, his skin was tan, his eyes were bright, and his hearing aids were sleek and hot-rod red.

"How would you like to go on a mission, buddy?" Orlando asked, slinging an arm around his shoulder.

"Sure, I'm up for it," Mica shrugged.

"He can be my hero," Piper said as she walked up.

"Your hero?" Mica asked, looking excited. "So... _you're_ going on this mission?"

"Yeah."

"Hey, where's Ace?" Marissa whispered to Piper. The girl just shrugged.

"She snuck off with Coda."

"What?!"

The rest of the girls looked at her and she blushed before whispering harshly to Piper, "What do you mean she snuck off with Coda?"

"She snuck off with Coda," Piper reiterated before investing herself in the conversation that the rest of the group was having.

"Oh no, Ace," Marissa muttered to herself.

"Is something wrong?" an impossibly deep voice asked behind her.

Turning slowly, she craned her neck up and up to face the hulk of a man standing behind her. His robes were tight-fitting and dark, revealing the contours of many more muscles than Marissa previously thought possible on one person. Once she finally ( _finally_ ) reached his face, Marissa was met with kind, clear eyes and a snub nose. To top it off, he had a head of dark violet curls cut close to his head in an undercut. Marissa was in awe.

"Lee, would you want to go on a mission?" Orlando asked the boy as he walked up.

"Hypothetically," Marissa squeaked. He looked down at her and it made her feel very small.

"Yeah, sure," came his simple reply.

"His voice is so delicious," Sylvie leaned over to whisper to Delta, who nodded in agreement before remembering she was mad for some reason and pouting.

"Perfect. You can be Marissa's hero," Orlando said. Marissa gave a small wave so he would know which fairy the prince was talking about. Lee waved back shyly, making Marissa blush and turn around.

Will walked up just then and Jane straightened her back from its ever-present "please don't look at me" slouch.

"Hi, Will," she said a smidge too loudly.

"Will, wanna go on a mission?" Orlando asked, looking bored of the question.

"Always," the blond replied heroically, looking off into the distance and reaching for the hilt of a sword that wasn't there. He held the pose for a few seconds longer, making everyone feel uncomfortable.

Jane spoke up excitedly, "You could be my hero!"

He grinned at her charmly and bowed, saying, "Of course, Princess."

"Woah, you're a princess?" Mica asked. "No way. Where of?"

"Eraklyon," Jane replied, looking a bit confused.

"No way! I'm the Prince of Isis!" Mica said excitedly.

"You're kidding!" Jane exclaimed, blue eyes going wide. "How come we've never met? You guys are like our greatest colony!"

"I know, right?!"

"So, wait... you, me, and Will are all Eraklyonites? That's awesome!" Jane said, high-fiving the two boys.

"That... was super weird," Piper finally said, giving the three a look of disgust. "You guys need to chill."

Jane just giggled in response.

"Well, this has been a great night," Orlando said, "but I haven't hooked up with one chick so it's been a total waste."

The group laughed as Sylvie scoffed.

"Whatever, loser. I'll call you tonight with the mission details."

She kissed him on the cheek and then the two groups parted ways. Back in the room, they changed out of their dresses and into their sleepwear.

Marissa walked out of the bathroom to see Sylvie on the phone with Orlando and Jane playing with her bunny. She sat down beside the redheaded fairy.

"So... what do you think of this mission?" Marissa said, trying to start up a conversation. The tan bunny bounced up to Marissa and knuzzled her hand.

"Honestly? I'm scared to death."

"Me too."

* * *

 **Do you have an OC club that you draw fanart for or write fanfiction for? Would you like to see them in another story? If so, mention it in the reviews or message me privately and we'll see if we can have that happen.**

 **Review!**


	6. iv: whene'er the moon is bright?

**If you're listening to my playlist, tell me in a review about your favorite Winx Club song!**

* * *

 **Ace**

"Coda?"

"Hmm?"

Ace looked up at the boy and felt her heart flutter. They had been walking down the main road between Alfea and Red Fountain for two hours now since the dance ended. Ace could feel herself falling. Something about his dark eyes made her want to hold him close and tell him everything would be okay. He had told her all about it his homelife, or lack thereof, and it just about made her heart bleed. She wanted to help in any way she could.

"I have to go on a mission tomorrow."

"Yeah?" he said, half-listening.

"Would you... want to be my hero?"

He looked at her regretfully, now finally paying attention, and said, "Ace, you know I'm a musician, not a hero."

"I know, but... it would be a great chance to reunite with Piper."

"Ace..."

"Just hear me out," she said hastily. "I know you don't want to go home, but I have a feeling that Piper needs to know why. She won't admit it, but I can tell she feels personally hurt."

"I explained it to her when I left."

"I know, but I could see in her eyes tonight when she saw you that she sees it differently," Ace explained, placing a hand on his shoulder.

He looked down at her hand like it was something foreign and took it from his shoulder, holding it instead in his much larger, musician's hand. Ace felt her face turn red and was thankful that the moonlight paled it out.

"I'll think about it," he finally said after a long silence.

She smiled and they walked back in comfortable silence. He left her at Alfea's gates. She saw Piper waiting on the balcony. Once she went into her dorm, the first thing she saw was Sylvie sitting at the table, flipping through the books Faragonda had given them and arguing into her phone.

"No, Arlo, listen-"

"It is not stupid."

"You can't just say that about everything."

"..."

"That's because it's a _magic_ cauldron! Idiot."

She looked up and silently waved as she saw Ace walk in with her heels in her hands. Jericho flew up to her and started bombarding her with questions.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt? Where have you been?"

Ace giggled and ruffled his hair, responding, "I was with Coda. Didn't Piper tell you?"

He glared in the direction of the balcony and replied, "I don't trust her yet."

Ace sighed when she saw the lithe fairy's silhouette perched on the railing, looking up at the moon.

"I have to talk to her, don't I?"

Jericho shrugged.

"Do whatever you want."

"Talk to her," Columba said nearby in a steady voice. "It's the right thing to do."

Ace smiled at the olive-toned pixie in thanks before remembering that she couldn't see her.

"Thank you."

"It's my pleasure," came the steady response.

Jericho scoffed and rolled his eyes. Columba crossed her arms and fluttered away.

"Be nice."

"Whatever."

Ace decided to pick her battles and deal with the issue at hand, crossing the room to the balcony. She saw Jane and Marissa sitting cross-legged on the floor playing with Reuben and Delta walked out of her room on FaceTime with somebody.

"Then don't wear your binder to sleep, Siggy. Duh."

She rolled her eyes in annoyance and Ace decided now would be a good time to slip onto the balcony.

"Hi."

Piper didn't look up, but she replied, "Hey."

"How was the dance?"

Piper shrugged.

"Listen, I'm sorry for running off with Coda."

"Don't be," she replied. "You're both big kids who make your own decisions."

"Yeah, but I can tell it's bothering you," Ace countered, leaning against the railing to look Piper in the eye. The music fairy caved and turned to face Ace.

"I think you're cool, okay?" she relented. "You're a nice girl and I don't want to see you get your heartbroken."

"He won't do that."

"Oh, yes, he will."

"No, actually," Ace persisted, "he won't. Because I can see through his little charade."

"You can?" Piper asked in surprise.

"I won't let this family be torn apart," Ace said. "I'll try my hardest."

Piper pulled her knees to her chest and looked out at the skyline.

"You're a little too late, Ace."

Ace smirked, something she must have picked up from Coda in their two hours together.

"Whatever you say, Piper."

The girl granted her a small smile and then they both looked out on the horizon, thoughts consumed with the same boy. For the second time that night, Ace lapsed into comfortable silence. The next morning when they were called out of class, however, the silence was much more awkward.

"What is he doing here?" Piper spat as the six girls and their pixies walked down to the courtyard where the heroes were waiting. She hooked her thumb in her suspenders in what Ace thought must have been a comfort motion. Roxanne crossed her arms and whispered something angry in Piper's ear.

Ace couldn't help the smile that split her face when she saw Coda looking out of place with the other uniform-clad boys in the line-up. It was strange seeing him in the daylight, but he was just as handsome. When his eyes landed on her, he winked and she felt herself swooning, even though she knew it was just a ploy.

"He's my hero," Ace explained. She saw Piper and Marissa exchange a glance but decided to ignore them. Coda was a major womanizer, but he could be saved. Anybody can be saved, right?

"Hey, isn't that the singer boy? He's cute," Sylvie observed loudly.

Poe groaned and replied, "Sylvie, learn how to read a room."

Faragonda joined them as they reached the boys.

"I see you have picked your heroes," Faragonda remarked. "I assume you all know the nature of this mission."

The boys all nodded except for a hulking boy with dark violet curls and round eyes.

"Wait, what? No, I don't," he said in a wonderfully deep voice.

The girls all shared a look. Sylvie giggled and said, "Ooh, I like that."

Delta nodded in agreement, but Piper facepalmed. Still, her face was red enough that Ace could tell she liked the boy's voice too. What girl wouldn't?

"The details to the mission," Faragonda reminded them pointedly, drawing them back to the topic at hand, "have been uploaded to your aircraft's database. Any questions you have can be directed to that."

Turning to the girls, she handed Jane a faded book with a fraying cover and yellowed pages. The cover had a yellow gem at each corner and a haunting silhouette in the center. The title was written in a forgotten language.

"In here, you will find the information about the relics you seek."

Jane nodded and put the book in her ever-present satchel. Faragonda opened her mouth to address the heroes when she stopped herself.

"Who did not choose a hero?"

Delta raised her hand.

"That would be me, Headmistress."

"Did you not look for a hero at the dance last night?" Faragonda asked in confusion.

"I did, but they were blockheads."

Orlando smirked at her and Delta glared.

"Very well. Five is enough. Heroes, you may board the craft. Pixies, go ahead as well," Faragonda said. She turned to the fairies as the boys and pixies did as she said and told them, "Girls, you must know that this mission is dangerous and you have never fought together before. Remember that there will be more chances to retrieve the relics."

"Headmistress, I have a question."

"Yes, Acacia?"

"Um, how are we supposed to achieve our Charmix in a week?" Ace asked, nervously rubbing her arm. It had taken her so long just to earn her basic Winx transformation.

"With the guidance of the Great Book of Fairies and the help of the retreat I'm sending you girls on over the weekend," she replied, ushering them towards the aircraft. "Now, hurry, before class let's out."

The ride there was totally silent with the only spoken interaction coming from Sylvie tripping on her way to the back hangar and Orlando calling her an idiot. The majority of the ride was spent individually reviewing the witches, the relics, and the covens. It wasn't until they arrived at the forest around Cloudtower that someone spoke.

"Holy crap," Mica exhaled as the dark spires of the witch school came into view. "This place is terrifying."

"Scared, Mikey?" Will taunted, flexing his arms. Jane started drooling, so Ace gently poked her to draw her back to the real world. Jane blushed and avoided eye contact.

"Shut up, Will," Mica said, shoving the taller boy, but the prince didn't budge.

"So what's the plan?" Coda asked. Everyone just looked at him.

Finally, Delta said, "Jane, aren't you, like, the leader or something?"

"What? No. Why do you guys keep assuming I'm the leader?" Jane said all in one panicked breath.

"You're Bloom's daughter," Sylvie said as if it were obvious, but it kind of was.

"Wait, you're Bloom's daughter?" Lee asked in that deep tone that made the girls' hearts hot.

"Uh... yeah?"

"I didn't know that your mom was in the Winx Club," he explained nervously.

"Lily, all their moms are in the Winx Club," Will said with a charming laugh. "Pay attention, man."

"Dude, where have you been?" Roxanne chirped from the back, sending the pixies into a fit of giggles.

"All of them?" he asked in the same nervous tone.

"Lee, _my_ mom was in the Winx Club," Orlando said, rolling his eyes.

"Why? Is that a problem or something?" Marissa asked.

"No. What? No problem. Not a problem. Not a problem at all."

They all gave him a weird look, but Poe cleared his throat from the back and said in his creepily monotone voice, "It's time to go."

"Okay, where are we going?" Lee asked.

"Seriously, dude, read the mission files," Piper groaned.

"There's no time for that," Orlando argued. "If we're moving, we move now."

"Faragonda said to take the underground passages," Ace chimed in, holding up the map that came with their files. "The first right leads to the dorms."

"We can't fly the ship up to the front door," Delta said from her seat in the cockpit. "It's too big. We'll need someone to wait here in the forest with the Hawk."

"I'll do it," Mica volunteered.

"Aww. Mikey _is_ scared," Will laughed.

"Shut up, Will," Mica growler. "You know I'm the best flier. I got a scholarship for it."

"I'm cool with that," Delta said, relinquishing her seat to Mica. Mica lowered the hangar door and the teenagers slowly filed out. Ace found her way to the back near Coda.

"Hey," she said. She blushed for no reason. "I didn't get to thank you for coming."

"How could I say no to those eyes?" he teased.

Ace had never had a boy speak like that to her before so she couldn't help falling head over heels for Coda so fast, even though she was only trying to play his game. He smiled at her, but it was so reserved. It was hiding something, something that she was determined to find. Tangling her fingers with his, she sped up to join the group at the entrance to the tunnels.

"Ace, do you have the map?" Marissa asked.

Ace nodded.

"Now would be a good time to transform, ladies," Will suggested.

"He's right," Jane agreed. "We need to be on high alert in that building."

Ace nodded as she got into position.

"Ace, Magix Winx!"

She was worried it wouldn't work because up to that point, she had always said Acacia. Luckily, the light enveloped her as it always had and she felt her transformation take over as the magic moved her body to a familiar song and dance. Ace watched as the petals wrapped around her and fell away to reveal her yellow crop top, skirt, and knee-high boots. Leaves crawled over her shoulders to reveal a sheer, beige pink cape. The same leaves covered her waist and fell away to a sheer, beige pink skirt trailing down on the back of her solid skirt. Similar little capes surrounded the top edges of her boots. Lastly came her favorite part: the wings. She felt them grow from her back and, looking over her shoulder, she saw the round petal shape take form. The light faded and she was standing once again with all her new friends.

"Wow, baby doll, you clean up nice," Coda joked as her feet touched down on the ground again.

That was another thing she liked about Coda; he called her baby doll. No boy had ever called her that before. She knew he had probably told that to a thousand other girls, but that one part of her head felt special anyways.

"Oh my dragon, that is disgusting," Piper gagged behind them. Ace pouted but she reminded herself that she invited Coda to help Piper.

"Piper, can you read this map?" Ace asked, handing the paper to Coda. Piper walked up to take the map from him and the two looked awkwardly at each other.

"So you got your Winx transformation," he observed.

Piper looked down at her greyish lilac dress. The front was innocent enough, but the back dipped down to the base of her spin and revealed the black band of her halter bra. The skirt was flowy around her thighs, and her legs were clad in fishnets. Her boots were short and flared out at the top. All in all, her transformation was as stylish as her normal outfits. Even her wings were styled to look like purple bass clefs, sans the dots.

"Yeah, just after you left, actually," his sister replied pointedly, crossing her arms protectively over her waist. She took the map and walked back to the group.

With a heavy sigh, Coda asked, "Ace, why did you do that?"

"My sister is my best friend in the world," she explained, shrugging to seem less invested than she actually was. "I can't stand idly by and let you ruin your last chance with Piper."

He grimaced and wrapped an arm around her, pulling her to his side and guiding her to the group. Jericho flew up to her in an excited green flurry.

"We've come up with battle strategy," he said in an attempted deep voice. He was still so small that it came out high-pitched and made her giggle.

"The entrance is just over there," Delta said, pointing to some nearby bushes.

Her dress was the most scantily-clad and consisted of two green diamonds over each breast, a diamond cutout over her belly button, and a triangular skirt that was shorter in the front that in the back. Her boots were the same color, knee-high, and pointed like diamonds, as were her bicep-length gloves. Over her abdomen cutout sat her usual necklace, glinting more brightly now in the reflection of her triangular wings. Ace noticed Orlando checking her out. She thought about saying something, but the smirk on Delta's face told her that the technology fairy already knew.

"The plan is that the heroes get us up to the dorm unharmed and largely unseen. From there, we look for the relics and any clues as to what the witches plan to do with them," Jane explained, nervously smoothing down her grey skirt.

Her outfit was simple with a grey halter top and a gold gem in the center of her chest and grey netting spanning the space between her crop top and miniskirt. Her boots went up to mid calf and were also grey with a gold gem in the center. She had fingerless, grey gloves that also sported a gold gem in the center of each.

"We need an emergency plan," Lee insisted in a voice that made Ace's toes tingle. She giggled and Coda looked down at her in confusion. One by one, the girls started giggling under their breath before suddenly they broke out in gut-busting laughter.

"Hahahaha!" Sylvie shrieked in her high voice. She doubled over. Luckily she was the only one wearing short shorts so no one was flashed.

Her outfit was a dark blue one-piece that had short off-the-shoulder sleeves and a sweetheart neckline with a moonstone sat comfortably between her two breasts. Two crescent-shaped cutouts exposed her sides and her back from her shoulder blades to her butt, but a small strip leading from her top to her bottom covered her belly button. Her boots were short and dark blue with a moonstone on each ankle. A silver cuff attached to her sleeve and another silver cuff sat around her wrist on each arm with two dark blue ribbons dangling from each. Her wings looked like crescents too.

"We- we need to stop doing this," Piper laughed breathlessly, "or we'll never be through with this mission."

Marissa coughed as the laughter died down and asked, "Lee, maybe if you could not speak until this mission is over, that would be great."

Marissa was wearing a slinky dress that was a miniskirt on the right side but had a trailing skirt on the left. It was red with a maroon strap in the middle with triangle cutouts on the side. Her boots were ankle-length and also maroon. In addition, she had a maroon ribbon twisting its way up her right arm. Her hair was down for the first time since Ace had met her and it looked really good. She looked so different than her usual, bare minimum style.

The tall hunk looked around confused.

"What did I say?"

The boys just shrugged in response.

"Okay, _anyway_ ," Jane said, pulling the conversation back on track, "the emergency plan was a great idea. If caught, we fly out the window and the boys abandon us."

The heroes began protesting all at once.

"We aren't leaving you."

"That's the whole reason we came."

"That's stupid."

"No, it's not stupid, Arlo," Sylvie argued. "It's smart."

Jane smiled at Sylvie's support and continued, "We can't afford anybody who knows about the mission getting caught. The secrecy is still of the utmost importance."

"But-"

"Will, you _will_ abandon us if need be."

Ace was taken aback by Jane's confidence but she gave a small smile when Will just nodded, at a loss for words.

"Also, pixies, for the same reason, you guys should stay behind with Mica."

The pixies looked like they were going to argue, but with a firm look from each of their fairies, they didn't say anything and went willingly back to the Hawk.

"When you get there, get Mica to hook you up on the comms!" Ace called after them. Everybody shushed her, but Jericho turned around to give her a thumbs up.

"O-okay," Jane said with a smile. "That's settled then. Let's steal back those relics."

* * *

 **If I get enough reviews asking for it, I'll post a character chart in the Intermission chapter. You'll only be able to see it on the Wattpad version, which I suggest checking out for pics of the characters.**

 **LET ME KNOW IF YOU WANT YOUR OCS FEATURED AS BACKGROUND CHARACTERS!**

 **Do you think Jane is coming into her own as a leader? Is she a Mary Sue? Is this story cliché? Let me know in the reviews. Don't forget to review!**


	7. v: 'tis splendid fun to see them run

**Tell me in the reviews if you're an artist, writer, patron, or a combination! (Obviously you're a patron if you're reviewing because every comment is sponsorship lol.)**

 **As requested, a character chart:**

 **Fairies:**

• _Jane- Fairy of the Dragon Flame, daughter of Bloom and Sky, freckled and afraid of failure, super short_

 _• Sylvie- Fairy of the Midnight Moon, daughter of Stella and Brandon, long tan legs and short blonde hair, OG Winx fan_

 _• Marissa- Fairy of the Fountain of Life, daughter of Aisha and Nabu, brown-eyed babe with a round doll face, pear-shaped and preachy_

 _• Ace- Fairy of the Spring Harvest, daughter of Flora and Helia, green-eyed gumdrop, curvy and determined_

 _• Piper- Fairy of Music, daughter of Musa and Riven, black-haired hottie with black eyes to match, has emotional walls for days and only trusts her fishnets_

 _• Delta- Fairy of the Digidex, daughter of Tecna and Timmy, basic brilliant brat who's always ready to fight, purple hair and hazel eyes_

 **Heroes:**

 _• Will- silver gladius, Prince of Thordal, blond and dramatic, center of a prophecy_

 _• Orlando- orange broadsword, Champion of the Scorching Sun, golden-eyed Golden Boy, only thinks of three things: girls, boys, and sleep_

 _• Lee- navy blue triton, shadowy past, violet curls and clueless face, buff with a deep voice_

 _• Mica- red bow and arrow, Prince of Isis, loves engines and bad puns, tan and thin with sparkly ruby eyes_

 _• Coda- black dual katanas, moved to Magix City, lanky heartbreaker with total bad boy vibes, kicked out by Riven_

* * *

 **Piper**

Orlando hopped down into the passage and Will lowered Sylvie in afterward.

"Stop kicking, you giant giraffe girl!" Orlando called from the bottom as he tried to help her down.

"Then put me down!" she hollered back. They all shushed her and reminded her of the tower full of witches above them.

Sylvie disappeared into the hole and Will lowered Piper in after her. She spent a second in free air before she felt Orlando catch her by the hips and lower her to the ground.

"Thanks," she said, looking up at the ceiling which was much farther away than she previously thought. The light coming from the hole was blocked by a pair of legs and Delta came tumbling out of the sky to fall into Orlando's arms.

"Hey, sweetheart," he said with an obnoxious wink.

"Ugh."

Delta pushed at his chest, so he dropped her legs but kept an arm tight around her waist. Glaring at him, she twisted and let the sharp corners of her dress jab him in the bicep. He jumped back in pain. Delta was wearing a self-satisfied grin.

"It is so dark in here," she complained as she wandered into the dark.

Orlando looked up as Ace's boot-clad legs poked through the hole.

"Sylvie, take the ring."

Sylvie flew over and slid the ring off his finger just before Ace plopped into his arms. As Ace unnecessarily apologized to Orlando, Sylvie turned the ring into a staff and used it to illuminate the gave. Behind them was shriek.

"Who the hell are you?!"

They whipped around in fighting position and found a bedraggled-looking boy in old fashioned ripped clothes with pale skin, pale hair, and glinting eyes.

"Hi," he said with a dangerous grin. His arm was wrapped around Delta in a headlock. At the sound of the shriek, Will jumped to the cave floor.

"Let her go," Orlando demanded, holding up his golden phantoblade to the strange boy's neck. He let go without protest.

Holding out a pale bony hand, he introduced himself as Val in a thick accent. Understandably, no one shook his hand. Ace grabbed Delta and pulled her into a hug.

"I didn' mean tae scare you," he said with a shrug as if there weren't a sword to his neck. "What're ya wanderin' my caves fer?"

"Your caves?" Piper asked.

"Is everything okay down there?" Jane's voice called from the hole in the sky. "I'm coming down. Someone catch me."

Suddenly Jane came plummeting out of the hole and into Will's arms. She turned red and scratched her neck as he set her upright and she faced the newcomer.

"Who are you?"

"Val."

Once again, he held out a hand and was met with open air. Jane crossed her arms.

"What do you want?"

"Tha's wha' I came over tae ask you."

Lee lowered Marissa into the hole and then jumped down after her.

"We need to get to the Cloudtower dorms," Jane explained.

"The map says it's the first right," Piper added.

Val tilted his head curiously.

"You're right. Say, where did you get tha' map? Few people have true maps o' the Magix cave system. It's a- wha' do they call it? Magical secret or somethin'?"

"Yeah, something like that," Jane muttered more to herself than to the bony boy.

"I can guide you folks if you like," Val offered, watching Jane intently.

Suddenly static in their ears made all their fairies wince.

"Piper!" a loud Welsh accent called into her head. "It's me! Roxanne!"

"I can hear you," she said under her breath. "We're kind of in the middle of something."

Looking around, she saw that the other fairies were doing similar things. Val was giving the group a strange look.

"You aren' loons, are you?" he asked bluntly as he took a step back.

"No, we aren't 'loons'," Orlando replied, dropping his sword and crossing his arms.

"Well, in tha' case, follow me."

He turned and left and after checking with each other, they decided as a group to follow the strange boy into the dark, damp cave.

"So... Val," Jane began awkwardly, "do you live down here?"

"I live over in a cave house," he replied matter-of-factly.

"A cave house?" Will asked, ducking to dodge a stalactite.

"Tight squeeze, folks," Val said as the cave grew narrow and the group had to turn sideways to get through. Lee almost got stuck on account of his giant muscles. "As I was sayin', I live in a cave house. Tha's a house in a cave. Woah, watch out for tha' cave rock!"

They all walked around a large bolder in the middle of the path as the walls opened up again.

"It's just a rock," Piper muttered, but the only who heard her was Lee, who snorted to himself and kept on walking.

"This should be the cave path you folks are lookin' for," he said as we stopped at an upward slope that ended at cave opening with flickering light pouring through. "Come back and visit."

And then he was gone. The group looked around in confusion, but the boy was nowhere to be seen. With a shrug, they decide to forge ahead anyway.

At the top of the hill was another passage way running perpendicular to the passage that they had just come from, except this new passage was paved in wet stones and dimly lit by torchlight. Piper looked back over her shoulder before stepping into the darkness.

"We're, like, inside the walls of Cloudtower," Delta said, looking up to see no ceiling, only darkness that stretched on for ages.

"Clever deduction, sweetheart," Orlando teased, but his eyes were also fixated on the never-ending shadows hanging above their heads.

"Don't call me that," Delta muttered as her eyes strained to look for the ceiling.

Ace shivered and pulled her silly little cape closer around her shoulders. Coda took off his leather jacket and covered her in it. She smiled up in thanks, but Piper looked away in disgust. She rubbed her own goosebumps away.

There was an awful chill about being underground and it didn't go away once they entered the building. It was the sort of chill that just sat in a person's bones and didn't let up no matter how many layers they put on. It didn't help that Piper was wearing a miniskirt, but she was luckily also the one fairy wearing long sleeves.

They kept walking, not really knowing what to look for, until Sylvie tripped on something.

"Watch where you're going, birdbrain," Orlando joked as he helped her up.

"You watch it, barf breath," Sylvie shot back oh so cleverly.

"Sylvie, you brilliant baby deer, you found the exit!" Jane cheered as she inspected the raised stone that Sylvie had tripped over. Piper gave her a strange look at that nickname but didn't say anything as she fiddled on the floor. "Turn off the staff. I think this is it."

Orlando took the staff from his twin's hands and slipped it on his finger after transforming it back. The group was left with only torchlight. They all watched with bated breath as Jane tentatively pushed the raised stone back down into the floor. The wall slid aside, scraping up against the outside as the light of the school hallway flooded in.

Jane slowly poked her head out and Will did the same, looking the other way down the hall.

"Coast is clear."

One by one they filed out of the secret passage in the wall.

"Where's the dorm?" Marissa asked.

"Check the map!" Roxanne yelled through Piper's comm.

Wincing, the music fairy suggested, "I'll check the map."

Looking at the yellowed scroll, Piper followed the tunnel with her finger and landed where they were. Looking down the inked hallway, she saw the symbol of the Sisterhood of the Lamplight.

"It's the last dorm at the end of the hall," Piper replied, pointing down the curving hallway.

"What are you doing here?"

They whipped around to face a witch with dark hair and weepy eyes.

"What are you doing here?" Sylvie shot back.

"It's my free period," the witch replied, looking between the group confusedly. "Wh- oh my Dragon, you guys are fairies!"

Suddenly, blue magic was swirling at her hands and her pink lips were set in a snarl. She floated up into the air as her eyes went white and she let out a wail that brought them all to their knees.

"Ahh!" Piper screamed, her sensitive ears feeling like they were going to bust.

Looking up in a pained squint, Lee reached for his holster and pulled out his handle. They watched as a phanto-trident formed from the handle and he flung it at the witch like a spear, knocking her to the ground.

"Girls, run!" he roared as he jumped to his feet.

Piper stood up and bolted down the hallway. Looking to her left, she saw Marissa take flight and copied. The girls zipped down the hall, watching doors fly past them with the sounds of a battle behind them.

"Who was that?!"

Delta fingered her necklace and replied, "Maureen, Witch of Grief. She's part banshee and a member of the Sisterhood of the Lamplight."

"Great!" Sylvie said sarcastically. "Now they know we were here!"

"What do we do?!" Marissa asked.

Jane paused and listened to her comm, where supposedly someone was feeding her a suggestion.

"We lie," Jane said quietly.

"What?!" Ace called from the other side of the hallway.

"I said we need to lie!" Jane said more loudly over the din of the battle. "Tell them it's a freshman prank! Throw them off the scent!"

"I'm not taking the heat for Faragonda's mission!" Piper yelled angrily, nearly running into a clock hanging from the ceiling. "That's not our job!"

Jane stopped to listen to her comm again before replying, "It's the only answer! The mission needs to stay a secret!"

Finally, they landed and skidded to a stop at the end of the hall. The battle was far behind them now.

"This is it," Piper confirmed with arms crossed as Jane tentatively reached for the doorknob.

She slowly pushed the door open and crept inside. Piper went in last and closed the door behind them. Jane pulled out the book Faragonda had given her and flipped to the page with the cauldron on it.

"They say it responds if you call out its name."

"What's its name?" Marissa asked, looking over Jane's shoulder.

"Gristlebum?" Jane replied, looking at the word strangely. "Gristlebum!"

Nothing happened. They all tried calling out but it didn't make a difference.

"It must not be here," Ace deduced.

"What was supposed to happen anyway?" Sylvie asked with a joking smile. "Was it supposed to run out wagging its tail? Here, Gristlebum! Good boy! Come here!"

They all laughed at the image of the cauldron bounding up to them like a puppy, but screamed when an actual cauldron bounded up to them like a puppy. The six fairies jumped back, away from the shaking pot.

"Oh my Dragon."

The cauldron stopped and sat back on its hind legs- which were actually just the four stubs that hold it above the flame- and wagged its tail- which was actually just one of its handles. This made an awful clanging noise. It flapped its front handle and made a yapping sound. Ace dropped to her knees.

"Guys, he's so cute!" she squealed, petting its cold metal exterior. The cauldron made a delighted sound and cuddled up next to her.

"Ace, get away from that thing!" Sylvie shrieked.

"No, grab it!" Delta countered from where she stood on the desk.

"Delta, get down!" Marissa exclaimed, tugging on the Zenithian's arm. Delta screamed as she nearly fell over the edge.

"No way am I going down there!" Delta countered. "Who knows what that thing can do?"

"It can mix potions," Piper deadpanned, rolling her eyes at the chaos in the room. Honestly, she should have stayed on the Hawk with Mica and the pixies. "That's what cauldrons do."

"Yeah? Well, cauldrons don't bark or wag their tails," Delta said as she cautiously fluttered to sit on the edge of the desk.

"Oh, it's just a sweetheart," Ace cooed, scratching the underside of the cauldron. It rolled over onto its back to give her better access.

"Whatever it is," Jane said, "the witches shouldn't have it. Ace, grab him."

She picked him up and perched him on her hip. Piper stepped closer and inspected the tag on its rim that said "GRISTLEBUM" and underneath that "Please return to Avalon." Slowly, the name Avalon faded away to be replaced with Acacia.

"Now where's that spellbook," Jane muttered to herself, flipping through the book Faragonda had given her for clues. The girls fanned out and searched the room.

Piper stepped closer to the desk and found a sketchbook filled with large notes the first one said "What for, Avalon?" and the second one said "Better them than the Cult of the Midnight Moon" and next "What else? Obviously the Obsidian Coven" and then "No, Maureen, we can't just let them have it."

"Hey, guys?" Piper said, holding up the sketchbook. "It's not spells, but it does look familiar."

"Those are the covens Faragonda mentioned," Sylvie said upon closer inspection.

"I found it!"

Piper whipped around as Marissa popped up from under a bed, holding a crystal ball above her head. Just then, the door swung open.

"Girls, we need to leave," Will announced. The other boys stood behind him, looking over their shoulders warily.

"We haven't found the spellbook yet," Jane said, flying over to him.

"Remember what Faragonda said?" Sylvie reminded her, placing a comforting hand on the redhead's shoulder. "There's always next time."

Dejectedly, the girls left the dorm with the cauldron and the crystal ball. Once they reached the secret passage, they saw another witch, this one with vivid purple hair and an exuberant number of rings, cradling Maureen on the floor. Her head snapped up as they approached.

"You. What did you do?" she spat.

Jane snapped her head to Will and whispered furiously, "Will, what did you do to her?"

"Relax," Will replied to both the witch and Jane. "She's just unconscious."

"Unconscious?!" the witch shouted as she jumped to her feet. "She could have a concussion and you just left her here?!"

"She shouldn't have attacked us!" Will argued, but the other boys were starting to look guilty.

"You shouldn't be here!" the witch bellowed, towering over the body over her friend. "Wait- what are you... is that my cauldron?"

The cauldron whimpered and Ace hid it behind her back.

"Gristlebum, come," the witch demanded. The cauldron didn't budge. "Gristlebum, come."

At its defiance, the witch's nostrils flared in fury and she stomped her foot, summoning magic to her hands. Piper blanched and stepped back in terror. She was no where near ready to take on a sophomore witch.

"Run."

The group fled into the tunnel and through the passage until they reached the cave, where the boys desperately dived behind the stalagmites and the girls flew up to hide amongst the stalactites. The witch stormed through the passage, swept the room with angry eyes, and turned on her heel, clenching her fist and closing the passage behind her.

Piper slowly drifted down to the floor and steadied herself on Lee's shoulder. He steadied her on the rocky ground and she nodded in thanks, joining the others in the center of the cavern.

"Yeah, I'm okay," she heard Delta say into her comm. A second later, Piper found herself answering the same question when Roxanne started yelling frantically in the mic for updates on the mission.

"So much for next time," Jane sighed, looking at the magical cave-in.

"We did what we could," Marissa affirmed, grabbing Jane's comfortingly. Jane smiled briefly but suddenly jumped in shock.

They all whipped around to face the new enemy. It was just Val, smiling in the strange way he does.

"I assume you made it out alive," he joked, looking at the group as they took steadying deep breaths. Piper rolled her eyes at his corner jokes.

"I assume you'd like some guidance out of my cave."

"We have a map," Piper said, crossing her arms. He eyed the cauldron in Ace's arms in interest and insisted again.

"No, Val, it's really fine," Jane assured him. His eyes sparked and Piper reached for Jane to pull her back to the group. This guy seemed dangerous; who knows how long he had been alone in that cave.

"Are you sure you don' need any cave assistance?" he asked, looking over to Marissa and the crystal ball before looking back at Jane. He quirked an inquisitive eyebrow. Jane shook her head.

"She said no," Will said, stepping in front of the group.

"Woah, woah," Val said with a laugh, holding up his hands in surrender to the much taller boy. "I didn' mean anythin' by it. I guess I'll see you later."

The last part was directed to Jane specifically with an intentional look in his glinting eyes. He backed into the shadows and disappeared.

"That guy was weird," Lee said. They all nodded in agreement.

"Let's just get going," Jane said. "We're going to have hell to pay for getting caught."

They found their way back to the entrance. Ace handed the cauldron to Delta, who held it away from herself at arm's length. Ace flew up to the top and grew down a vine. Piper was the first to climb up and sat at the top recounting the mission to Roxanne while she listened to the twins bicker for the entire climb up the vine. Sylvie finally pulled herself out the hole and collapsed on the ground.

"Flying is exhausting," she groaned as Orlando came out and sat down next to her. She paused before scowling and saying, "Shut up, Poe."

Coda and Will came up the vine with Jane following close behind.

"We should move to the cover of the trees," Coda suggested, pointing to the nearby forest and looking up at the tower looming over them. "Hero Recon 101."

Will and Orlando scowled at him but followed his advice anyway and moved everyone over to the cover of the trees. Coda stayed behind to protect Ace as maintained her vine. Piper couldn't hear them from the tree line, but while she was walking away, she heard Coda say, "Nice vine, baby doll."

Piper made a gagging face and Sylvie broke out in giggles. Orlando elbowed her and pointed up at the tower, signaling for her to be quiet.

"That Val guy was weird," Jane said, sitting crosslegged on the grassy floor. Sylvie and Piper did the same as Marissa flew over and joined them.

"I don't think he meets a lot of people," Piper said, remembering the strange way he had watched Jane and the relics.

"He was kind of hot in a crazy way," Sylvie said, tilted her head in contemplation.

"Sylvie, he was literally insane," Marissa said, rolling her eyes.

"And?"

They all laughed. Delta stomped over angrily. Her face was as red as Jane's hair.

"Marissa, your hero is incompetent."

Lee ran after her, apologizing profusely. Marissa began to apologize as well, not knowing what was going on. Piper put a hand on her shoulder, giving her a look to shut up. Ace and Coda walked over to join them beneath the forest canopy. Delta shoved the cauldron into Ace's arms, which yipped happily and wagging its back handle.

"What happened?" Jane asked, standing up.

"If you see someone falling and they're wearing a skirt, don't catch them BY THE ANKLE!"

Delta whipped around to face Lee in a righteous fury.

"I swear it was an accident!" he pleaded, face also bright red. "I didn't want you to fall."

"I can fly!"

"I didn't think about," he murmured.

"Obviously!"

"I'm still confused," Marissa whispered to Piper who only shrugged. She wasn't inclined to like Delta after the bedroom debacle, so the music fairy found herself taking Lee's did won this one, whatever it was.

Will stepped forward and stated loudly, "Delta, we don't have time for this. We need to get back."

"But he saw my-"

"WHAT?!" Orlando cried, whipping out his sword and holding it to Lee's throat.

Piper covered her ears and whined, "What the hell was that sound?"

"Yeah, Arlo screeches," Sylvie said with a disappointed nod.

Piper groaned, "Great. You shriek and he screeches. My ears will be bleeding by the end of this mission."

"What's your problem, dude?" Orlando said, taking a step forward and forcing Lee to take a step back. The gold phanto-blade illuminated the fear on the larger boy's face.

"Dude, she was falling, okay? I just reached for her," Lee said, holding up his hands in surrender.

"Wait, falling?" Jane asked, stepping in. A gentle, freckled hand guided the sword away from Lee's throat and back to Orlando's side. "Delta, why did you fall?"

Delta crossed her arms and shrugged.

"I don't know. I got, like, knocked out of the sky. Probably bumped a stalactite or something."

"Yeah, okay, sure," Jane mumbled, not looking very convinced. "Let's just get back to the ship."

The walk back was exhausting. Because they were going through the trees, Piper couldn't fly back and had to suffer through Marissa giving a step-by-step recounting of the mission to Lana through the comm. They were nearly to the Hawk and she had only reached the part where they met Val- she had stretched it out that much. Piper and Will groaned at the same time. He looked to her with a smile, but she only glared and stomped to the front of the group. She and Prince Charming were not friends.

When they reached the Hawk, Mica ran out to greet them.

"Nice job, guys, but we have an issue."

Once inside, he walked over to the controls and pulled up a screen with an old man on it. He was bald at the top with impossibly long hair going down his back and a golden staff. Mica clicked play.

"Headmaster Saladin," the boys chorused, holding their fists to their hearts and bowing their heads.

"Headmaster Saladin," the girls said out of sync afterwards, doing awful job of mimicking the boys gesture. Delta just kept nodding and Marissa saluted him. Piper snorted when she saw Sylvie straight up punch herself in the boob. The group quietly left as she tenderly rubbed the sore area before realizing how weird that looked and blushing.

"Sorry. Continue," she said as her suntanned skin turned red.

Saladin set his brow sternly and said, "Winx Club, we need to talk."

Everyone froze. Piper rolled her eyes and said what was on everyone's minds:

"We're not the Winx Club."

* * *

 **So? Thoughts? That last line, am I right? Oh, by the way, in this AU, clubs are a big deal. Pretty much everyone is in a club. (It's kind of a parody about how everyone who makes OCs in real life has a club with a crazy name.) That's why Faragonda was talking about picking it a club name in the first chapter.**

 **So let me know if you want your OC club featured in Arc 2.**

 **Do you think you can guess the ships?**


	8. vi as soon as it grows light

**Tell me in the comments about why you love Winx Club! Also, welcome to the end of the first arc.**

* * *

 **Delta**

"Right. Sorry, girls," Saladin corrected himself after clearing his throat. Delta rolled her eyes. How can a man this old not be retired yet?

"What's the matter, Headmaster?" Will asked.

"Faragonda has informed me of your prank and I must say, I am very disappointed in all of you. You have a legacy to live up to," he explained with gusto.

Marissa began to explain, "We weren't-"

Jane's freckled hand cut her off. Pulling on an apologetic face, the redhead said, "We're sorry, sir. It won't happen again."

They all looked at her in shock. Out of the corner of her eye, Delta saw Mica nodding in agreement. What was that about?

"You must understand," the old man said, hard lines of his face softening at the apology, "we cannot let actions like these go unpunished, regardless of who your parents are. I'm afraid Griffin is asking for your suspension."

"What?!"

"We understand," Jane said with a solemn nod.

"And the objects stolen will need to be returned," the old man said. "Theft is a serious crime."

"We don't have them."

He raised an eyebrow.

"We lost them in the caves!" Sylvie offered, following along.

"In that case, return to Alfea immediately. The Headmistress will deal with you accordingly."

Saladin sighed and the transmission was cut.

"What was that?" Delta asked, rounding on the much smaller girl. "Why didn't you tell him we were on a mission from Faragonda?"

"It's top secret, Delta," Jane explained. "And it was Mica's idea to blame it on a prank. Quick thinking, Mica."

He nodded and took a seat at the cockpit. Delta rolled her eyes and took the seat beside his.

"Whatever," she said with a roll of her eyes. "Like, now we have a suspension because of this stupid mission because of our stupid moms."

"Hey," Piper said, standing and pointing a threatening finger in the Zenithian's direction. "That's my mom you're talking about."

Delta scoffed and rolled her eyes, turning back around in her seat. Seeing a fight about to break out, Mica asked, "So how was the mission?"

"Exciting," Ace answered at the same time Delta said, "Dull."

"I think it was interesting," Sylvie said, taking a seat and crossing her lanky legs. "We met a weird cave dude."

"There's someone living down there?"

"Apparently," Sylvie said with a shrug. "And he's really weird. Kind of cute, but really weird."

"I think he was dangerous," Piper said, sitting down beside Marissa.

"You're probably right," Mica replied quickly. Delta rolled her eyes again.

"He, like, wasn't that bad. Just a little off," Delta said, rubbing her neck where she could remember the stranger's pale arm around her throat.

"I didn't like him," Orlando said matter-of-factly as he dropped into the seat beside Sylvie's after securing the door.

"Me neither," Jane muttered. The conversation fell into a lull.

"Well, what else happened?" Mica asked, trying to get rid of the awkward silence.

"We went into this creepy passage way," Marissa said with a shiver. "We were in between the walls."

"And then we met a witch," Will said, brandishing his sword dramatically at the memory. Lee elbowed him.

"The boys fought the witch while we found the relics," Marissa said, holding up the crystal ball in her lap.

"And we met Gristlebum!" Ace squealed excitedly, jumping off of Coda's lap and standing in the aisle. "Gristlebum! Come here, Gristlebum!"

The cauldron came running out of the back room with the pixies all sitting in its pot. With every turn, it would fling them from side to side, making them scream like they were on a rollercoaster. It skidded to a stop at Ace's feet and wagged its handle. She scooped up the cauldron and the pixies all flew out to their respective fairies.

Columba flew into Delta's face, so she gently guided the sightless pixie to sit on the dashboard. Columba grinned in thanks and adjusted her white blindfold, which had begun to slip, on her sharp Roman nose.

"That sounds cool," Mica said, clicking some buttons the dashboard. "Everyone buckle up now. We're heading out."

Delta strapped herself in as Columba asked, "So, was it scary?"

Delta shrugged.

"It wasn't that bad. I didn't have to do any fighting, which was cool. Although..."

"Although what?" Columba asked, on the edge of her seat. Delta shot a glare over her shoulder at Lee.

" _Somebody_ decided to get liberal with his hands."

"Oh, come on!" Lee exclaimed from the back. "It was an accident!"

"We're not fighting over this again!" Sylvie said, putting a hand on Orlando's shoulder to stop him from doing something stupid. Poe fluttered up to her shoulder and whispered something in her ear.

"Guys, Poe just said something really valid. We have no idea who we are."

"What?"

"No, I mean- what I meant-"

"What she meant was we don't know each other," Orlando explained, still looking a bit peeved. Delta smiled to herself.

"Let's play a get-to-know-you game," Sylvie suggested, sitting up in her seat.

"Yay!" Ace cheered, clapping her hands. Delta saw Coda roll his eyes, but when Ace looked up at him, he smiled down at her. Delta squinted at him and turned her seat away.

"I'll go first," Sylvie suggested. "My name is Sylvie and I love dancing and shopping."

"Oh my Dragon, you sound like Mom," Orlando groaned. "That was awful. I'm going to do yours instead."

"No, that's not fair," she whined.

"Hi," he said in an awful falsetto. "My name's Sylvie and I love emo, indie music."

The whole crew started laughing, Delta included. Orlando looked up when he heard her laugh with a triumphant grin. She coughed to hide her smile. Luckily, no one saw the exchange.

"Okay, fine," Sylvie said, crossing her arms and setting him with a hard look. She put on a thick voice like one of the blockhead jocks from the back-to-school dance and said, "My name's Orlando and I put mayonnaise on everything."

"Shut up, Sylvie!"

"You shut up!"

They all burst out laughing again, at the twins' expense. Both were blushing bright red through their suntans.

"Okay," Marissa said, once the group's laughter had died down. "I'll go next. My name's Marissa and I like baking."

"Really?" Jane asked. "You should bake for us some time."

Marissa bit her lip and blushed, twirling a finger around one of her curls.

"Sure," she said with a shrug. Jane grinned and went next.

"My name's Jane and I like painting."

"Boo!" Piper cried, holding up two thumbs down. Delta crossed her arms and rolled her eyes at the obnoxious girl. "We already know that."

"What? How?"

Piper laughed at Jane's bewilderment.

"You have paint stains on all of your clothes."

"No, I don't."

"Prove it. De-transform."

"No."

Piper quirked an eyebrow and Jane groaned, de-transforming. She was left in a green bandana, short overalls, and a paint-stained, white long-sleeved top. Piper burst out laughing.

"I was right! Come on. Tell us something we don't know."

"Fine," Jane grumbled, picking at the paint on one of her sleeves. "I'm Jane and I can read people's auras."

"What?! That's so cool," Roxanne said, flying away from Piper to get all up in Jane's face. "What's my aura now?"

"I have to try really hard to do it," Jane said, rubbing her arm bashfully. Roxanne pouted in disappointment and flew back to Piper's lap.

"I guess that means it's my turn," Piper said. "I'm Piper and I'm the fairy of music."

Mica switched the Hawk to autopilot, turned in his seat, and said, "What a load of dragon dung."

"What?" Piper asked, crossing her arms.

"You literally went after Jane for being obvious and then gave us the most obvious answer," Mica argued. Throwing her own words back at her, he said, "Tell us something we don't know."

"Like what?" she laughed. "I like margaritas and moonlit walks on the beach?"

"No, like, do you do anything besides complain? Do you have any hobbies besides bringing down the mood?"

Everyone looked at Delta in shock. She crossed her arms and turned her seat to face the window again.

"Oh, Delta, no," she heard Columba whisper from the dashboard.

"Excuse me? It sounds like you're talking about your own interests."

"Okay, ladies, why don't we cool it?" Will said. Delta refused to turn around.

"It looks to me like she's the only one of us who needs to cool it," Piper muttered. Delta grit her teeth and stared out at the passing scenery. Mica looked to her with concern.

"Moving on," Jane suggested. "Mica, why don't you go next?"

He gave Delta one last look of concern before turning around and saying, "I'm Mica and I love anything with an engine."

Piper scoffed and laughed.

"Typical."

Mica grinned despite himself and said, "Will, why don't you go next?"

"Okay, well, I'm Will and when I was born, my parents found out I was part of a prophecy," the prince said. Delta could see his reflection smiling smugly in the window.

"Really? That's cool. What's the prophecy?" Jane asked, leaning towards him in her chair. Delta rolled her eyes; she liked Jane, but the girl didn't need to be so obvious.

"The true heir to the throne of Thordal is destined to save the Magic Dimension with a blade forged by the Great Dragon's Flame," he explained, basking in the fact that all eyes were on him. "The original one rhymed, but I can't remember it exactly."

"Well... I'm the fairy of the Dragon Flame," Jane said. "Maybe we're destined to save the world together."

"Maybe."

They looked into each other's equally blue eyes for a while before Sylvie suggested Ace take a turn.

"Um, sure. I'm Ace," the timid fairy began, "and I'm the fairy of the Spring Harvest."

"What's that?" one of the guys asked- Delta couldn't tell because she still had her chair turned around.

"It's a holiday in the Life System where we pick the magical flowers commonly used in potions and charms."

"Life System?" Jane asked. Delta turned around now, fighting the urge to reflexively answer the question. She knew it would be best to lay low in the conversation for a while.

"You know, Marigold and all its moons," Ace explained.

"Wait, so you're a holiday fairy? That explains a lot," Lee said with a chuckle.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ace asked, taking a seat in Coda's lap again after placing Gristlebum in the chair beside them. He wrapped his arms protectively around her, but he stared disinterestedly out the window.

"Nothing, you're just so... holiday," Lee finished lamely.

"That doesn't make any sense," Ace pouted.

"No, he has a point," Sylvie said. "You are very holiday."

"What does that mean?"

Piper shrugged and replied, "What a holiday thing to ask."

The group started laughing over Ace's obvious confusion.

"Whatever," the nature fairy said with a huff. "It's Coda's turn."

Coda finally looked up at the sound of his name. Putting two and two together, he realized it was his turn and said, "My name's Coda and I'm in a band."

"Ugh, you are just like your sister," Mica said with a roll of his eyes. The rest of the ship laughed, but Piper and Coda just looked at each other before looking away. The laughter died down awkwardly.

"Delta, you're the last one," Ace said quietly, obviously trying to pull the attention away from the brother-sister pair. Delta glared at her, but the nature fairy only snuggled closer to Coda.

"Okay, yeah. Delta?" Mica said, quirking an eyebrow. "Anything you'd like to share?"

Delta smirked and fingered her necklace.

"My name is Delta and I know all of your middle names."

"What?"

There was a general air of confusion in the room that the purple-haired girl basked in.

"Sylvia Galassia, Orlando Cosmosia, Marissa Karissa, Acacia de los Angeles, Coda Yunru, Jane Elizabeth, Piper Liqiu, Hanale Akoni, William Lionel, and Mica Broa," she finished. She got a lot of mixed reactions.

"What in the-"

"How?"

"I don't-"

"Your name is Marissa Karissa?"

"Holy-"

"Explain yourself."

Delta laughed into her hand and held up her necklace.

"I'm the fairy of the Digidex, a magical artifact that holds all knowledge known to man. If somebody knows it, it knows it," she explained.

"So... do you know what we're thinking?" Mica asked.

"Not anymore. I learned how to stop the flow of data in middle school," Delta said with a small shrug. "Turns out people don't take kindly to strangers knowing their deepest thoughts."

"No duh," Piper said, glaring. Delta glared back.

"So why didn't you just find out where the relics were with the Digidex?" Jane asked.

"It decides what I should know," Delta explained. "And what I shouldn't know."

"Why shouldn't you know?"

"I don't know. And I'm apparently not supposed to."

"Well, that was a fun ride, but we're here."

They all looked out the window at Mica's words and watched as the Hawk touched down outside of the Alfea courtyard. It was about lunchtime now and fairies were wandering close to see what a Red Fountain ship was doing at Alfea College. Delta unbuckled and walked with Columba to the door where Faragonda was waiting on the ground.

"Did you retrieve the relics?" she asked once they had all stepped off the platform.

"Only the crystal ball and the cauldron," Jane replied, presenting the two to the headmistress. Faragonda sighed.

"Very well. I'll have Griselda bring them to the Hall of Relics."

She took the crystal ball from Marissa, but when she reach for the cauldron, it yipped and burrowed deeper into Ace's arms.

"So the cauldron has imprinted on you," Faragonda observed. "Then it shall stay with you."

Ace grinned and hugged the cauldron closer. Delta fought the urge to roll her eyes in front of the Headmistress.

"I'm sending your pixies home. They will not be embarking on this next mission with you. At Headmistress Griffin's request, the lot of you will be suspended."

"That's not fair," Delta protested. "We went on this mission for _you_."

Faragonda looked taken aback, as did the others.

"You went on this mission for _Magix_ ," Faragonda reminded her.

"What does Magix care that somebody stole a few of your relics?" Delta spat, crossing her arms. Columba put a warning hand on her thumb.

"Delta..."

"As the Winx Club, it is your duty," Faragonda said, raising her chin.

"We are _not_ the Winx Club."

Delta was surprised that Piper was taking her side. When she looked back at the music fairy, Piper looked away, but Delta smiled to herself. Maybe she wasn't that bad...

"Headmistress, with all due respect," Sylvie began, "we shouldn't get suspended for this."

Delta was surprised that the other girls were rallying around her.

"Back your bags, Winx. You're going to the Resort Realm at midnight," Faragonda said.

"Wait, what?"

"The Resort Realm?"

"It's time for you to earn your Charmix," she explained, turning on her heel and strutting away.

"Does that- does that include us?" Mica asked, looking around at the equally as confused faces around him.

"It will," Delta assured him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "There's no way you guys aren't getting a vacation after going on a mission for that crazy lady."

Mica smiled at her. Of all of the morons she got roped into this mission with, Mica was the most tolerable. Probably because he reminded her of her brother.

"Delta's right," Jane said. "Make sure you guys are here at midnight with your bags packed. Our dorm is up there."

She pointed to their balcony, already draped with plants after one day, courtesy of Ace.

"Find a way up there before we leave."

Will and Orlando nodded and then the four specialists walked back onto the Hawk. Nearby Coda and Ace were talking separately. It looked like she was trying to convince him of something with the way she was grinning up at him.

From nearly across the group, Piper whipped around and exclaimed, "No way is he coming!"

"Piper-" Ace began pleadingly.

"I'm not spending my time off with him," Piper said, crossing her arms.

Jericho flew up to Ace and whispered something in her ear.

"Are you sure?" she asked back. He only lifted an eyebrow, so she turned to Piper and said, "Too bad. He's my hero and he's going."

Piper turned her back and stood with her back to the group, arms crossed like a child. Roxanne flew up to her and said something, but Piper wasn't having it.

"No, Roxanne! Whatever!"

With that, she stomped inside.

"Ace..." Coda began.

"Please?"

He sighed and Delta felt bad for him, even if he had as bad an attitude as his sister and a bad boy complex to boot. It must have been hard to be on the other end of that green-eyed gaze.

"Fine."

Ace beamed and kissed him on the cheek.

"Be here at midnight."

"Okay, whatever. I'm heading back to Magix."

He ruffled her hair and strode away. Ace rejoined the group and together they all walked upstairs to pack for their "suspension." The pixies flew back to wherever pixies came from; after consulting the Digidex, Delta learned it was Pixie Village. A little on the nose for her liking, but at least she didn't have to live there.

"Do you think I should bring a fancy dress?" Delta asked Piper as she bustled around the room looking for clothes. After spending a few minutes packing side by side, the girls called a truce so that they could finish packing with their temper- and sanity- in tact.

"I guess," Piper shrugged, throwing everything she owned into her suitcases. Delta rolled her eyes but opted not to say anything. With Piper angry at Ace, Delta found herself temporarily on her good side again.

Delta neatly folded her yellow dinner dress and put in a pair wedges to go with it. A few bathing suits here, some sandals there, and she was good to go. Her phone started ringing.

"Hey, Delta," Sigma said when she picked up the phone.

"Hey, Siggy," she said back, holding the phone between her shoulder and her ear as she made her way towards the "kitchen" area of their dorm where they had the cabinets full of snacks and one singular microwave. "How's Cable Academy going?"

"Lame. Tell me about the Winx Club 2.0," he dodged. There was a crackle on the other side and then a muffled, "No, bad kitty. Down."

"That's so unfair that you got a cat to replace me," Delta said with a laugh.

"Why? Hemingway is selfish, bratty, and annoying. Perfect substitute."

Delta gasped.

"Hey!"

The two started laughing, but then he asked, "Seriously, is the club as bad as you made it seem yesterday?"

"Worse. I can't handle any of them."

"That's a little harsh, Del," Sigma said with a sigh. "You shouldn't let bias stop you from enjoying fairy school. I mean, these are supposed to be the best years of your life!"

"Yeah, well..."

"Well, what?"

"It's two days in and we hardly go to any classes. We spend all of our time on this stupid mission."

"Oh, by the way, how did that go?"

Delta rolled her eyes and replied, "As well as could be expected when you ask a bunch of amateur fairies and heroes to break into Cloudtower in hopes of saving the world."

"Del."

"I know, I know."

She walked out of the "kitchen" where the other girls were sitting in a circle on the floor. They all started whispering when she walked in and then Sylvie turned around to ask, "Delta, do you know why anyone would steal those relics?"

That stumped her, so she told Sigma she'd call him back and consulted the Digidex. Tentatively takin a seat in the circle, she said, "The spell book contains a recipe for a resurrection potion. When poured over a crystal ball of Whisperian glass, you can speak to exiled souls."

"Exiled souls?" Marissa thought aloud. "What's that?"

"People who were banished from this plane, even in death," Piper answered ominously, waving her hands like she was telling a ghost tale. Jane nudged her and she sobered up, saying, "Their souls are impossible to contact."

Delta fingered her necklace again and said, "There are only a handful of exiled souls, only three of which being worth talking to for a witch."

"Who?"

"I don't know. They're exiled."

"Does the Digidex know?"

"If it does, it's scared to say."

A chill fell over the girls as they sat there on the floor, looking at each other with wide eyes. No one wanted to say it, but everyone was thinking it: _what have I gotten myself into_.

"So... so who was the Enodia chick who used to own the crystal ball?" Sylvie asked.

Delta rubbed the smooth green surface of the Digidex and mentally scanned through all of the data known to man. Finally she hit a wall and dropped the Digidex from between her fingers in a haste.

"What? What's wrong?" Marissa asked, putting a hand on her shoulder. Delta shook her head to collect herself.

"Come on, you have to tell us," Ace begged.

"No, I wasn't shaking my head because... I was just clearing my thoughts," Delta explained, rubbing her temples. "It won't tell me, but whoever she was, her story and her answers are surrounded my dark magic. Practically soaked in it. I feel cold inside of my head."

"So it won't tell you?" Jane asked.

Delta looked up and subconsciously rubbed the goosebumps on her shoulders.

"I don't think I want to know."

A knock on the window made them all jump out of their skin. Turning, they just saw the boys standing on the balcony. Ace stood to let them in.

"What's going on in here?" Mica joked. "A seance?"

"If it's not a naked pillow fight, I don't care," Orlando said, taking a seat between his sister and Delta.

"Ew," Sylvie said, smacking him upside the head. He turned on her and tackled her to the ground. The girls all jumped up so as not to get rolled over by their impromptu wrestling match.

"Dragon, they are so weird."

Delta nodded in agreement, only afterward realizing that it had been Piper who said that. Maybe they can agree on some things...

"You came," Ace said with delight, wrapping her arms around Coda's waist. He patted her on the back and took a seat on the couch. She sat beside him.

"Uh, guys?"

Everyone turned to face Will, who was standing alone on the balcony.

"We have a little problem."

They all walked out to join him and saw that Lee was still at the gate, pushing against the barrier.

"Why won't it let him in?" Marissa asked, watching her hero with concern.

"I don't know, but we'll figure it out," Jane said, putting a hand on her friend's shoulder. There was knock on the door.

"I'll get it!"

"Sylvie, wait!"

But it was too late. She was already swinging the door wide open.

"Uh, hi," said the fairy on the other side. She had interesting tattoos inked into her pale skin. "Are- are those boys in your dorm?"

She looked around Sylvie at the heroes in the common area. They awkwardly waved, so she awkwardly waved back.

"It's for a mission," Sylvie hastily explained. "Hey, aren't you Jennifer? From the Lifeix Club next door?"

She nodded and asked, "Aren't you the girls who pulled that prank on Cloudtower?"

Delta cringed at the reminder that that's what the school thought of them. With a sigh, Sylvie nodded.

"Oh. Well, Faragonda wants you in her office. She said it's time to go."

"Oh, okay," Sylvie said. "Thanks."

Jennifer nodded, giving the boys a strange look before heading back to her dorm. Sylvie turned around eyes wide. One by one, they all started laughing until they could barely breathe. Something about being almost caught does that to you.

"I guess we should get going then," Jane said with a deep breath. She grabbed her suitcase and the others did the same. Together they walked to Faragonda's office, where the headmistress was surprised to see the boys.

"Oh, I was not aware that-"

"We'll need protection if we're going to be powerless," Delta said before she could finish.

"Wait, powerless?" the girls asked, turning to her.

Delta fingered the Digidex and replied, "Yeah. The Resort Realm is powerless."

"I don't know if I'm comfortable with that," Piper said, crossing her arms.

"It's a wonderful way to earn your Charmix, girls," Faragonda explained, already looking annoyed. Delta reasoned that she must really want to be rid of them. Guess they aren't the perfect team like the Winx Club. That thought felt kind of validating.

 _Good_ , she said inside her head. _I didn't want to be perfect anyway._

"I don't know about this."

"It worked for your mothers and it will work for you."

"Wait," Jane said, looking down in confusion. "Our moms?"

The girls shared a knowing look and Delta asked, "You don't actually think we're the Winx Club, do you?"

"The apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

With a sigh, Jane turned and said, "Let's just go."

They followed her out of the office, now more dejected than before, where an Owl was waiting for them. They walked onto the ship and brought Lee's suitcase with them. Then when they flew outside the gates, they picked him up. Marissa was waiting for him at the ramp.

"What was that about?" she asked, gesturing to Alfea's magical barrier. Lee shrugged and deflected.

"I don't know. So how long 'til we get there?"

No one answered, all still stewing in an angry silence. Lee just took a seat by Marissa. The lights were dimmed for night travel, but Delta could make out shadows on his face that came from more than low lighting.

The pilot, a Red Fountain boy, was watching them all anxiously in the rear view mirror until he finally spoke up once they cleared Magix City.

"Are-aren't you guys the Winx Club?"

"Just shut up, Xavier," Orlando said, crossing his arms and looking out the window.

"Arlo, be nice," Sylvie said half-heartedly, lolling her head on the chair to look out the window as the stars flew by. "Sorry about that, Xavier."

The redheaded boy just gave a nervous smile in return. Delta rolled her eyes. This vacation better be the best vacation ever with everything these people were putting her through.

* * *

 **Credit for the beautiful Jennifer, the adorable Xavier, and the Lifeix Club goes to DiamondQuietRose2. Check her out, as well as her story** **Lifeix Club: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut** **, if you want to know the cool story behind Jen's tattoos. It's a really cool book. Check it out.**

 **And that's the end of Part 1! That's the last chapter for a while because the next one is gonna be** _ **long**_ **. So prep yourself for** _ **intermission: pyros**_ **.**

 **Who's your fave and why? What's your fave ship? Dislike anybody? Let me know in the reviews PLEASE.**

 **Until next time.**

 **Love, Ru**


	9. intermission: pyros

**Sorry for the long wait. I didn't think anybody was reading since there were so few reviews. I mean, seriously, guys?**

 **I even give y'all questions at the beginning and end of each chapter for you to answer. It's not that hard and it makes me feel so used to have people asking me in my PMs if I'm going to update, when they don't even bother to review about my story. I don't mean to sound pissy, but it** _ **does**_ **bother me.**

 **Tell me in the comments which POV is your favorite so far.**

 **This is super long, btw. You probably won't be able to read it in one sitting.**

· · ─────── ·本· ─────── · ·

Will stirred in his sleep and knocked Jane's head off his lap. Jane woke up and rubbed at her eyes, looking up at Will's still peacefully asleep face. She grinned fondly and sat up. After gently caressing the sleeping prince's strong jaw, she turned her eyes to the rest of the ship.

Everyone was still. Whether asleep or not, Jane couldn't tell, but just in case, she quietly stood from her seat and made her way over to the window. She watched planets and moons fly by that she couldn't name and wondered how far to the Resort Realm from now. She grit her teeth.

Faragonda was treating them like some perfect photocopies of their mothers and it was one thing to put them in a dorm together, but making them a club before they even had time to unpack? That was going too far. Even worse, she sent them on a mission on their second day of school, and now she's sending them to a _different realm_ in the hopes of them reenacting their mothers' lives and earning their Charmix _by the end of the week_. Jane felt the Dragon Flame heating up her palms in her anger and had to shake her hands to cool down.

"Jane?" a soft voice asked.

Ace turned around in her seat, looking up over the top of her chair. Jane walked over and stood in front of her.

"What are you doing up? It's the middle of the night," Ace said groggily, trying to sit up before realizing Coda's arm was thrown across her waist. She struggled bashfully before giving up and shrugging. To compensate, Jane took a seat on the floor in front of her.

"I'm just mad," she huffed, casting another long glance out the window. "I don't care who she is, Faragonda can't treat us like this."

When she looked back, Ace was giving her a soft smile.

"What?"

Ace shrugged and replied, "I just remember how adamant you were about not being a leader. You're really coming into it."

"No way. Me? As if."

Ace shrugged again and said, "Whatever you say, Jane."

"I just don't see how Faragonda can get away with this. She's practically militarized the entire school."

"She's up against something big and it scares her," Ace said. "I really can't blame her for trying to save the world."

"Yeah, but from what?" Jane asked. "She hasn't told us anything. I was talking to a girl from my art class and apparently next week the Venix Club is going to the Underrealm to get a magical vase! Why? They don't know!"

Delta looked up from her phone from across the room and glared at Jane for raising her voice, shushing Marissa back to sleep. Gently standing so as not to wake the sleeping fairy, she strutted over to Jane and Ace.

"What are you complaining about, Red?"

Jane blushed at the nickname Will had made up for her. It had caught on and now everyone called her that.

"I'm just mad at Faragonda for sending us to the Resort Realm."

"Okay. Then let's not go."

Ace scoffed, "We can't just _not_ go."

"Sure we can," Delta said. Turning to the pilot, she said, "Hey, Mohawk guy."

Xavier turned in his seat and raised an eyebrow. Delta turned to Jane and Ace and asked, "Any suggestions?"

"Delta, we shouldn't-"

"Pyros."

The two girls turned to Jane, Ace in shock and Delta with a smirk.

"You heard the girl, Flyboy. Take us to Pyros," Delta said.

"I don't think I can do that," Xavier said nervously.

Delta glared and made her way to the console. Bending over to look him in the eyes, she said, "Do you have a fairy team, Xavier?"

"Y-yeah."

"Does Faragonda send them on ludicrous missions?"

"Well, I wouldn't call them-"

" _I asked_ , does Faragonda send you guys on ludicrous missions?"

Looking down, he muttered, "Yeah, sometimes."

"Okay, so that means you have to understand. This is the part where we're _supposed_ to rebel."

He looked down at the ground before nodding and turning back to the console. He clicked a few buttons and turned the wheel, making the ship take a sharp left. That effectively woke up the rest of the ship.

"Wha- what was that?!" Marissa exclaimed, jumping up.

Mica and Piper woke up at the same time and realized they were wrapped around each other. Piper turned red and shoved him away. Mica blushed and awkwardly rubbed his neck. Delta was smirking at them, which made Piper glare and stomp over.

"What's going on?" she demanded.

"Yeah, I second that," Orlando groaned, sitting up.

"You can't second a question, idiot," Sylvie said as she struggled to pull her arm out from behind him. He elbowed her and she fell out of her seat, separating them from their tangled sleep.

"Guys, we're going to Pyros," Jane said, biting back a smile. Her eyes searched the crowd forming around the pilot's seat and blue met blue. Will smiled at her and gave her a thumbs up. She bounced on her heels.

"What are they going to do when we don't show up in the Resort Realm?" Lee asked, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"Good question," Jane said. "Xavier, do you know any fairies willing to cover for another club by sneaking out of their dorm in the middle of the night, traveling to another realm, checking into a hotel as someone else, and heading back to Alfea before sunrise?"

"The Lifeix Club wouldn't break the rules," he said nervously.

"Wait, you're with the Lifeix Club?" Sylvie asked.

"Whatever," Delta cut her off. "Are you sure you don't know any other fairies?"

"Well... there's my step-sister, but-"

"Perfect!" Ace cheered. "Call her."

Xavier sighed and pulled out his phone.

"Sam? Yeah, hey. I need a favor."

He set the autopilot for Pyros and walked to the back of the ship, leaving the rest of them standing at the helm.

"So... Pyros, huh?"

"Yeah. My mom went there once. That's how she got her Enchantix," Jane explained. "A woman there named Maia helped her. Hopefully, we can train under her too."

"Where is it?" Marissa asked.

"It's a moon that left Domino's orbit. The realm of the dragons is what they call it."

"Dragons? That's just great," Sylvie lamented. "Who needs sugar sands and crystal water when you can have dragons?"

"Stop whining," Piper chastised. "It'll be fun."

"And, on the bright side, it's the first decision we've made in this mission without Faragonda hovering over us," Delta pointed out. The two girls looked at each other strangely- were they actually agreeing?

"Hey, sweetheart. Whatever you're cool with, I'm cool with," Orlando said, slinging an arm around her shoulders. Delta batted him away. Sylvie slugged him in the shoulder.

"Okay. Okay, thanks."

They all turned to Xavier as he finished the phone call. When he looked up, he was met with all eyes on him and turned red.

"Uh, she says they'll do it."

"Perfect. Let's get going."

"Wait, what even is Pyros?" Marissa asked, taking her seat again.

"I'm not sure," Jane admitted, rubbing her arm nervously. "I'm pretty sure it's an island realm or something."

"Oh, that sounds nice," Ace said.

However, the girls learned upon landing that Pyros was not in fact nice. It was actually very mean.

"Aaaah!" Jane screamed as she dodged a fireball from a dragon. All around her, her friends were taking shelter in the trees. She suddenly regretted sending Xavier away. They hadn't even had time to transform.

"No, no, no!" Marissa screeched as a small orange dragon flew after her. Its jaws opened and just before she was snapped in half, she dived into the ocean. The dragon sharply turned up and flew away. One by one, the other dragons gave up and wandered off.

Nearby, Jane heard Mica sigh in relief as he came out from behind a tree.

"Well, that was..."

He trailed off, but they all understood what he meant. Tentatively, they joined the sopping wet Marissa on the beach.

"I don't like it here," she said. With a snap of her fingers, the water left her body and slowly dripped down to the sand below.

"At least there's a beach," Sylvie said as she walked up, struggling to roll her luggage across the sand.

Turning around and shielding his eyes against the sun, Orlando surveyed the skies.

"It looks like they can't be near the water," he observed, pointing to the dragons hovering by the beach's end. Sylvie stood behind her brother and clutched his arm.

"I guess this is where we'll be setting up shop then," Jane said, pulling out the tent they had borrowed from the ship. They worked together on setting it up, save for Piper who was in charge of dragging the luggage from the forest to the beach.

Once they finally got the tent up- not without a lot of bickering and shouting- the group could finally relax. And relax they did.

"Wooh! Beach day!" Sylvie cheered as she burst out of the tent in a bedazzled bikini with a towel rolled up under her arm. Orlando ran in once she left.

"Shouldn't we be working on getting our Charmix?" Marissa said from where she sat by the shore. A second later, Orlando jumped out of the tent in a pair of golden swim trunks that reflected the light in an awful way.

"Wooh! Beach day!" he cheered.

The twins ran into the waves and started wrestling.

"I don't know how we're going to get through this if everyone keeps slacking off," Jane said, taking a seat next to Marissa. The girl turned to her leader and shielded her face from the sea wind whipping her hair into her dark eyes. Jane saw that the Androsian princess blended in perfectly with the scene.

"They aren't slacking off, Jane," Marissa said, hugging her knees to her chest. "They're doing the best they can to make the most of a grim situation."

"It wouldn't be grim if we stopped slacking off," the redhead mumbled. More loudly, she turned to Marissa and said, "You're right. We do deserve to have some fun, but we don't have that luxury."

"Who wants to play us at chicken?!" Sylvie called from the sea. Turning to the siblings, the group saw that Sylvie was sitting on top of Orlando's shoulders as the waves lapped at his back.

"What did she say?" Mica asked Piper.

"They want to play chicken."

"I will!" Mica called out. He turned to Piper to convince her to join him, but the girl was stoic.

Feeling bad, Delta said, "I'll do it, Mica."

He grinned at her and helped her up off the sand. The two changed into a string bikini top with shorts and flame-streaked board shorts, respectively, and ran out to join Sylvie and Orlando in the water. The Solarian siblings smirked at their challengers and got into position.

"I have to warn you. We're very good."

"Totally in sync."

"It's like we're twins or something."

Jane rolled her eyes as they laughed at their own joke and turned to Marissa saying, "I'm going to change."

"Giving in?" the other girl said with a smirk.

"If you can't beat 'em," Jane said with a shrug before heading to the tent.

Marissa turned back to the water, watching as Delta and Sylvie wrestled atop Orlando's and Mica's shoulders. Lee came to lay beside her and her hand went to his hair, carding through the violet curls as she watched the game. She wasn't as awkward around him anymore after having him fall asleep on her on the ship. Same with Delta.

Jane came rushing over, still wearing her jeans but now sporting a vivid red blush.

"Omd, omd, omd," she said, squeezing her eyes shut and plopping down beside Marissa.

"What? What's wrong?" Marissa asked.

With her eyes still closed, Jane squeaked, "I walked in on Will changing."

Lee and Marissa started cracking up laughing and nearby, Ace giggled and asked, "Well?"

"Well, what?" Jane asked, peeking out of one eye.

Ace leaned for and asked, "How was the view?"

That started a whole new round of laughter from Marissa and Lee, much to Jane's chagrin. Coda pinched Ace's hip, so she laughed and kissed his cheek in apology but not before rolling her eyes, which Jane noticed in confusion. Her mind went blank as Will stepped out, washboard abs shining in the sun. The laughter fell quiet on the girls' end of things as they watched the prince step forward in awe. Not so much of the same reaction from the guys...

"Put on a shirt, pasty," Lee joked, shielding his eyes. "Your whiteness is blinding me."

Marissa and Ace started laughing all over again, but Jane was still slack-jawed as Will shrugged it off and ran into the waves. She was beet-red.

"Honey, you'll catch flies," Ace teased. Jane shut her mouth and announced she was going to swim.

As she left, Lee looked up at Marissa from his spot on her lap and asked, "Aren't you going to swim? Isn't swimming, like, your thing?"

"Since when?"

"You're a water fairy, right?"

"Hey, stop stereotyping," Marissa said, poking him in the rib. "Just for that, I'm going swimming."

He rolled his eyes and stood, helping her up. She went to change, leaving Lee alone on the shore with Coda and Ace. Piper walked over just in time to save him from the lovebirds.

"You two are disgusting. Get a room," she spat. Ace glared at her and kissed Coda on the temple before standing and marching over to the tent. The two siblings stared at each other, one with anger and the other with indifference.

Marissa and Jane walked out of the tent in coincidentally identical blue bathing suits and their hair up in a bun. Ace ran after in a yellow tankini with a camera bouncing around her neck.

"Okay, this is really awkward," Lee said, walking away from the siblings. Coda laid back on the sand and Piper sat down cross-legged a few feet away.

"Why do you hate me?" Coda asked, gazing up at the few clouds in the clear blue sky. A stray dragon would fly by every once in a while, but they would never venture too close to the beach.

"What's not to hate?"

They fell silent again. Lee came out of the tent in fraying and faded green board shorts. He gave the siblings a look before rolling his eyes and running into the water. A little while later- once everybody else had joined the game of chicken in the water- she said, "I'm just mad. Really mad."

"I didn't do anything."

"Exactly," she said, glaring at him. He finally looked at her and she let him have it. "I get that you didn't want to be a hero and you were right; Dad shouldn't have tried to force you to be something you're not. But you left me all alone."

"Piper, he was suffocating."

"You think I don't know that? You think he goes easy on me?" she asked incredulously.

"He's always gone easy on you," Coda said, sitting up now. His sister scoffed.

"That's not true. And now it's worse," Piper said.

Coda pointed a finger in her face and argued, "I wasn't going to sacrifice myself for you."

"Well, you should have and I hate you for it."

Suddenly, a light enveloped her and she felt a weight lifted off her shoulders. When the light died, she saw a silver brooch on her chest in the shape of a music note with a tiny purple gem on the bottom of the stem.

As the brooch faded away, she held her hands to her chest. Piper briefly considered calling out to the others but, after seeing them playing in the water, decided to instead join them. With a secretive smile, she walked to the tent, leaving her stupid brother confused on the sand. She brushed past Lee as she walked into the tent.

"You're not getting in the water?" Lee asked Coda as he walked over to the shore, now wearing faded board shorts that were fraying at the edges.

"Why would I?" Coda replied, looking up at the sky with tight eyes.

"Because... your girlfriend is soaking wet and wearing a bathing suit? I'm confused. Do you need any more incentive than that?"

"She's not my girlfriend," Coda grumbled, still not taking his eyes from the sky. His fists were still clenched from his conversation with Piper, but they were tucked under his head, so Lee couldn't see.

"She might as well be," Lee scoffed, leaving the boy to brood and joining the others in the surf.

Lee found Marissa playing Marco Polo with Mica and Ace. After Delta and Mica lost to the twins, Jane and Will took up the mantle of challenger. Lee swam over to Marissa as Ace stumbled around blindly, looking for the two teens.

"Hey," she whispered, not looking away from Ace.

"Hey," Lee whispered back, standing behind her. With a smirk, he said loudly, "So, Marissa, having fun?!"

She gasped as Ace dived in her direction. Screaming, she swam behind Lee, but Ace peeked and caught her.

"That's not fair!"

Mica and Ace were giggling uncontrollably to each other. Nearby a scream alerted them to Sylvie falling backwards off of Orlando's shoulders. Jane and Will cheered as Orlando grumbled and helped his sister up.

While he was distracted, Marissa jumped and dragged him underwater. Pulling him to deeper waters, she used her powers to make a bubble around them. Soaking wet, the two teens sat on the ocean floor.

"It's beautiful," Lee whispered in awe as a school of fish swam over their heads.

"The most beautiful place in the world," Marissa agreed, watching his light eyes take in the watery wonderland around them.

He stood and walked over to the side of the bubble that faced the open ocean. It was infinitely dark and the longer he stared at it, the more figures his eyes tricked him into seeing. Marissa came to stand beside him.

"Are you scared?" he asked.

"Of what?"

"The mission."

She looked up at his face and saw that there was a fake loose smile on his lips and genuine worry in his eyes. She knew he just wanted her to say it so that he wouldn't have to. The more she thought about it, however, the more she realized.

"Not really."

"Oh, yeah, me neither," Lee said hastily.

"I mean, I'm scared, but..."

She went quiet and focused on a squid-looking creature swimming past them. Lee watched her until the squid thing swam out of view and she turned back to him.

"We're doing a good thing."

She nodded affirmingly, but her nose twitched and she blushed. Lee probably didn't know yet, but her nose twitching was her tell. She turned away from him to stare back at the ocean.

"Are we?" he asked skeptically. "What is it that we're doing?"

"We're keeping the covens in check," Marissa replied, rubbing her shoulders. It was chilly on the sea floor. "Otherwise, they'll take over."

"Yeah, but like, how do we know that?"

"What?"

"How do we know that leaving the covens alone will lead to chaos? Has anything bad happened yet?"

His eyes were boring into her. She didn't look up at him.

"Not that I know of, but these are preventative measures so that-"

"Preemptive strikes."

"What?"

"They're called preemptive strikes, Marissa, and they don't end well."

"Oh," she said, looking down at the wet sand. "Well, the Headmistress told us to, so it must be the right move. As long as we do what she says, everyone will be safe."

"Everyone will be safe?"

"Witches are dangerous, Lee. Whatever we're doing is for the greater good. If we don't, people could get hurt. Good people."

She wasn't looking up at him, but she could feel him draw away from her.

"Yeah, but you know not all witches are bad, right?"

"Right, right, totally," she said, finally looking up. "But still a lot. They can't just go unchecked."

He regarded her warily and said, "Marissa, you're making some pretty big generalizations."

"With good reason," she mumbled.

She sat down in the sand and watched the fish. He sat down a few feet away, returning to plucking the seagrass.

"Let's go back up," she suggested after too much silence had passed.

"Great idea," he agreed, standing to his feet.

He helped her up and then immediately let go of her hand, which she noticed. Summoning her powers, she shot them back up to the surface, startling the group and making the twins shriek and screech respectively.

"Dragon, you two need a mute button," Delta groaned, rubbing her aching ears.

"Where did you two go?" Ace asked with a mischievous giggle. She lifted her camera and snapped a pic of them as they flushed red.

"The bottom," Lee replied flatly, swimming away from Marissa to stand by Mica and Will.

Ace looked at their blank faces and decided not to push the topic, even though she was dying to know what happened down there. Marissa started swimming to shore when Sylvie stopped her.

"Where are you going?"

"It's getting late," Marissa replied, shrugging her off and trudging out of the water.

That prompted them all to look up only to see a setting sun and a dark orange sky.

"Marissa's right. We should head in," Jane suggested. "Then we can figure out how to do this island thing."

As a group, they swam to shore and after changing out of their bathing suits, Jane started doling out chores.

"We need wood and fresh water, as well as food. Someone needs to check the supplies we have from the ship, while others need to venture into the woods."

"I'll stay here," Ace offered. "I can sort the med supplies."

"Me too," Marissa offered. "I'll stay here and turn the saltwater into freshwater."

"I would also like to stay out of the woods, if at all possible," Mica volunteered.

"Okay, is anyone actually willing to go into the woods?" Jane asked.

The group was silent.

"Fine, I'll do it," Piper groaned. "I'm not afraid of some trees."

"Me neither," Delta said. "I'll go too."

"Awesome. Orlando, go with them to light the way as they gather wood. Coda, go with them since you have an ax."

The group of four stood and started towards the woods before Ace called out, "Wait!"

She ran up to them- awkwardly, because running in sand is hell- and shoved a glass bottle filled with crushed petals into Piper's hands.

"It's a pesar flower. It repels people. Maybe it'll work with dragons too. If you need it, just spit in it, mix it up, and drink it."

"That's, like, disgusting."

"That's, like, magic," Piper mocked in the same valley girl voice as she pocketed the vial. She turned and Delta stuck her tongue out to the music fairy's back.

Orlando took off his ring and it stretched into a long staff with a bright light at the top. Coda pulled out the shaft of his weapon and it extended, growing the black blade of his battle ax out of one end. Piper and Delta quickly transformed.

"Good luck!" Ace called as the group walked over the tree line. Picking up her camera, she snapped a picture of their backs disappearing into the woods.

"Ace!"

"Coming!"

"How do we get wood?" Piper asked after they had gone deep enough into the forest that the sandy beach was out of sight.

"Off the ground?" Orlando suggested.

"We could find a dry log," Coda offered.

"I already have a few," Delta said, holding up a lump of twigs.

"Those are twigs, Del," Piper said with an eye-roll.

"Whatever. I'm still doing better than you," Delta said, gesturing to the music fairy's empty arms.

"Ooo, idea," Orlando said, shimmying his shoulders excitedly. "What if we have a competition?"

"Brilliant. What's the prize?" Piper said, rubbing her hands together.

"Whoever brings back the most wood gets to be carried back," Orlando grinned.

"How are we supposed to carry you?" Delta asked incredulously.

"With magic, obviously," he replied, waving his fingers in her face. She shoved his hand away and nodded.

All in one breath Piper said, "Does everyone agree to the terms and conditions? Yes? Awesome. Let's go."

The three teens dashed off in different directions, leaving Coda to roll his eyes and trudge away in search of firewood.

Meanwhile, back at the tent, Jane was starting to get frustrated with her team.

"Guys, seriously, I need help," Jane said, watching Sylvie and Mica goofing off while Ace took pictures.

"I _am_ helping," Marissa argued from where she was purifying the seawater to make it drinkable.

"No, not you, Marissa. I was talking about those three," Jane sighed. Will came up behind her and placed a hand on the small of her back. She jumped and then a goofy smile spread across her face.

"Don't worry about them, Jane," Will said. "I set up that curtain in the tent like you asked."

"Thanks, Will," she sighed, leaning back into his hand. Of all the people on the island, Jane was most happy that Will was stuck here with her too. He was strong, capable, and... it also helped that every time she looked at him, she got butterflies in her stomach. He smiled down at her and she turned red. After staring into his ocean eyes for a little too long, she cleared her throat and turned back to the group of misbehaving teens, saying, "Guys, seriously, I need inventory now."

"Why don't you do it?" Lee pointed out from where he was spearfishing in the wake with his trident.

"I'm getting fruit," she groaned, gesturing to the fruit trees by the tree line. "Come on, Ace. Let's go. Will, if you could finish up the tent. Sylvie, Mica-"

She stopped talking as she watched Sylvie and Mica squawk at each other while Ace watched laughing.

Jane threw her hands up in the air and exclaimed, "Oh my Dragon, just do _something_!"

Snickering to each other behind their hands, Sylvie and Mica made their way towards the supplies to take inventory as Jane stomped toward the fruit trees.

Ace followed sheepishly behind and said, "You don't have to get upset, Jane. They were only goofing off a bit."

Jane huffed and pulled a bunch of mini bananas from the nearest tree. Brushing her hair back from her face, she said, "I know. I'm just frustrated with this mission and this island. I'm not cut out to be a leader."

"Are you joking?" Ace asked, incredulously raising one of her sharp black brows. "What do you think all that was? And deciding to come here? And getting this camp together? You're an amazing leader, Jane, and the only thing holding you back is the fact that you don't realize it."

Jane was taken aback by Ace's words. A small smile spread across her face and she looked down bashfully.

"Thanks, Ace. I'm grateful you're in this club."

"Me too," the girl replied, grabbing some fruit from the tree. "It's really a godsend, this mission."

"Why's that?"

"I was really worried I wouldn't make friends at Alfea because my only friend before College was my sister."

Ace felt a weight lifted off of her shoulders from admitting that. Jane considered that for a second before asking, "Is that why... you're, y'know- with Coda and Piper and all that?"

"Um, kind of?" Ace asked, fiddling her fingers. "It's just important to me that they figure things out. I mean, I understand what Coda is and that he could never love me and I could never love him and that's a problem that I could never fix because it is so ingrained in him to break hearts for some reason much deeper than anything he would ever admit to me without first loving me which brings us back to square one so-"

Her voice broke in the middle of her rambling explanation and her eyes pooled with tears.

"Ace?"

Jane put a hand on her shoulder as she struggled to hold back tears.

In a shaky voice, she squeaked, "I never meant to love him."

That broke the dam and she began full out sobbing. Jane pulled the larger girl into her arms. Ace immediately wrapped her arms around Jane's shoulders and sobbed into her neck. Jane tried not to choke on the mountain of black hair in her face as she rubbed her friend's back comfortingly. Eventually, the sobs died down and Ace stepped back, revealing a pendant on her chest in the shape of a falling flower petal with a yellow gem in the center.

"Is that-" Ace sniffled, wiping away residual tears. "Is that my Charmix?"

"Congratulations!" Jane cheered.

Ace laughed and asked, "So is my makeup ruined now?"

Jane looked up at her mascara-stained face and the tragedy that her eyeliner had become. She wiped the black smudges from her friend's cheeks and said, "No. No way."

The two girls laughed together and picked up the fruit they had dropped. As they walked back to the tent, Jane asked, "So, are you going to do anything about you and Coda?"

Ace looked to be actually thinking about her answer before replying, "No. I finish things. It's what I do."

Jane didn't press anymore and the conversation left her mind as she returned to camp to find Sylvie and Mica wrapping each other in bandages.

"Guys, seriously?!"

Ace laughed and snapped a picture. Marissa and Lee joined into the laughter as Jane reprimanded Sylvie and Mica. Marissa looked over her shoulder at Lee and saw that his laughter had died down and he now looked pensive. She waded out toward him. He spoke first.

"What did you mean when you said 'with good reason'?"

"What?"

"Underwater. In the bubble thing. You said you hated witches 'with good reason.' What was that reason?"

"I never said I hated witches."

He gave her a look, so she sighed and admitted, "Okay, so witches might not be my favorite people."

"Why though?"

She took a deep breath and said, "I come from a family with four sets of twins."

"You have eight siblings?!" he asked in disbelief, still not sure what that had to do with witches.

"Seven," she corrected. "I am one of those twins."

"Oh. How come-"

"When I was twelve, my twin sister was murdered."

Lee's pale eyes went wide and he looked like he wanted to gasp. She avoided his gaze.

"Oh my Dragon, Marissa, I'm so sorry."

She nodded and said, "It's okay. I didn't know her that well. She was sent away when we were little so she could learn how to be queen."

She waited for him to say something, but he just quietly listened.

"Marina was kind, from what I remember, and she never cried. When she was twelve, when I was twelve, she was murdered by a coven, The Wives of the Brine. They used her-"

She started choking up, so he placed a tentative hand on her shoulder. The weight of it kept her grounded.

"They used her as a sacrifice and left her body on the beach for her mentors to find. They told us the next morning."

"I'm so sorry, Marissa."

She sniffled to hold back a tear, but the feeling of his heavy thumb rubbing circles into her shoulder blade coaxed them out of her. A steady stream of quiet tears flowed from her eyes.

"I feel like I've been on the verge of a panic attack for the past four years and I just can't breathe. I mean, how could-"

She stopped herself and took a few steadying breaths.

"So, yeah. I hate witches. And I know it's wrong but..."

"No, yeah, I get it."

"Thanks," she said with a small smile. Her chest began to glow and when the glow faded, there was a brooch shaped like the top of a fleur-de-lis with a red gem balancing at the top. It faded away too.

"Awesome. You got your Charmix," he said with an understanding smile.

"You guys okay over there?" Sylvie called from the shore.

"I got my Charmix!" Marissa cheered, wiping at her cheeks. Luckily, it was dark and only Lee could see the tear tracks shining on her face in the moonlight.

"Me too!" Ace said, pumping her fists in the air. Both blotchy-cheeked girls laughed as Jane fondly rolled her eyes and told everyone to get back to work.

Meanwhile, deep in the forest, Delta was returning triumphantly to their meeting place.

"Look what I found," she sang, dropping a huge bundle of sticks onto the forest floor.

Piper appeared at the same time with a branch that she had broken up into three pieces. She smiled smugly at Delta.

"I'm pretty sure I trump you all," Orlando said as he dragged a log to the spot.

"Can you all just shut up?" Coda asked from where he was leaning against the tree with a giant stack of chopped firewood beside him.

"That's totally not fair," Delta argued. "You didn't even want to join in."

"Yeah," Orlando chimed. "That doesn't count. Which means I win."

"How are _we_ supposed to carry _you_?" Delta asked, surveying his lanky body.

"Now, hold up. I won fair and square," Coda said.

"No way. I did."

"I couldn't carry either of you!"

"Guys, shut up!" Piper yelled. She stilled and looked around with darting eyes. "We aren't alone."

The rest of the group went silent as they listened to the rustling in the trees. Together they backed up into each other until they were all back to back.

"Do you think-"

Delta's whisper was cut off by a pouncing dragon. At the campsite, Jane was explaining to Mica why Will and Lee were trying to drown each other offshore while Marissa stood by nearly crying and Sylvie laughed from the sand.

"And then Lee said Will needs to stop being so weird and Will said Lee needs to stop being so fake and Lee said Will needs to get over himself and Will called Lee 'Lily' and Lee hit Will and that's what you missed on _Glee_."

"What's _Glee_?"

"Never mind. It was an Earth reference. The point is they're just being stupid boys," Jane said.

Mica nodded and then asked, "Why do you even like that guy?"

Jane started laughing nervously.

"Who? Will? I don't- I don't know why-"

"Jane."

She sighed and said, "Fine. I do kind of like Will. He's just so heroic and charming."

"Don't you think he's sort of..." Mica searched for the right word... "off?"

"I don't think so, no."

"Okay..."

Mica turned back to the sea as the fight died down and the two soaking wet boys regarded each other warily. Reluctantly, they nodded and headed back to shore, having reached a treaty.

Marissa rushed to Lee's side as he walked out of the wake and started drilling him with questions like "What was that all about?" and "What kind of idiot-"

Will dropped to Jane's side and laid out on the sand, tired and wet. Mica got up and walked away.

"So... what was that all about?" Jane asked.

"Just guys being dudes," Will said with a smile.

For some reason, Jane didn't think Lee felt the same way. She watched him explaining to Marissa and he looked back at Will with a face that did not seem like a guy just being a dude.

"Well, you need to change because you cannot go to sleep covered in salt water."

"Why not?" he teased, sitting up.

"Because it's gross," she laughed.

"Oh, is it really?"

Jane shrieked when he lunged at her and toppled her over into a soaking wet bear hug. When their laughter died down, Jane realized that Will was still laying on top of her. In a quiet voice, she said, "Great. Now I'm going to have to change."

"Sorry," he said back. He was quiet too. It felt like neither one of them wanted to break the moment.

"Like, I can't believe you're so ungrateful," a shrill voice complained, announcing the arrival of the kindling group.

Will rolled off of Jane and helped her up as the four battered teens joined their friends on the beach. Piper was covered in soot from head to toe, Coda was holding the blade of his ax with no handle in sight, and Orlando was carrying Delta on his back. They all rushed over.

"Guys! What happened?"

"Dragon," Coda grunted as he shouldered past everybody and stormed into the tent. Ace worriedly ran after him.

"You were attacked by a _dragon_?" Sylvie shrieked as she crossed the beach in five long strides. Grabbing Orlando's face, she turned his head from side to side, inspecting for damage and thankfully finding none.

Piper flinched and covered her sensitive ears, glaring at the moon fairy and sulking over to the fire pit to drop the little wood they had brought back. Jane pulled her aside to ask, "Piper, what happened?"

"We were attacked by a dragon," she answered curtly, squatting down to start the fire. Mica hurried over to help, so the two of them started on the fire while Jane worried.

"How are we going to complete this mission if we can't leave the beach?" she wondered aloud.

Piper looked up and wiped soot from her brow, saying, "Well, Delta got her Charmix on the walk back."

"Really?" Jane asked, trying not to sound jealous. "How come? I mean, how?"

"Yeah, we talked."

"Oh."

Jane looked down at the ground and thought for a moment before asking, "So I guess it's just the two of us left to get our Charmix."

"Actually-"

"Seriously?" Jane groaned. "Am I the only one who doesn't have her Charmix?"

Piper and Mica shared a look as Jane huffed in frustration. They went back to struggling to light the wood, but, rolling her eyes angrily, Jane snapped her fingers and lit the fire. They watched with wide eyes as she stomped into the tent.

"So... a dragon, huh?" Mica asked Piper. "Are you okay?"

Piper looked down at her soot-covered body and replied, "Well, my clothes are ruined, which I'm not happy about, but at least I didn't idiotically sprain my ankle by trying to roundhouse kick a dragon in the face."

Mica glanced over to where Marissa was tending to Delta's swollen ankle while Orlando talked her through the pain.

"Didn't she save Coda?" Mica asked.

"So?" Piper callously replied. Mica stopped talking and focused on the fire. After a second, Piper added, "Thanks for asking though."

Mica looked startled, but then a sharp smile split his face. They went back to tending the fire in comfortable silence. Ace coaxed Coda out of the tent at about the same time that Sylvie went in.

"So... a dragon, huh?" Lee asked Orlando as he came to sit beside him.

Orlando grunted when Delta squeezed his hand a little too tightly and then he turned to reply, "You should have seen it. That thing was a beast."

"Yes," Marissa deadpanned. "That is the general category that fire-breathing dragons tend to fall under."

"No, it was seriously vicious," Orlando continued. "My sword just bounced off of its scales."

"He's right," Delta affirmed with gritted teeth. "There was a better chance of him killing one of us with that thing with the way he was swinging it."

"I can attest to that," Coda said from nearby.

Ace held the black blade of his ax in her lap as she coaxed a sprig out of the ground. The little tree grew thicker and she slid the ax onto it so it could grow around the cold metal. Once the blade was secure on the thick white wood, the roots came up from the sand and twisted around the end of the trunk to form an intricate knot. Grabbing the ax by its new handle, Ace handed it to Coda, who inspected it before placing a kiss on her forehead.

"Listen, I did my best," Orlando argued. Marissa lifted Delta's foot to wrap under it, and the tech fairy winced and squeezed Orlando's hand. "Loosen up, will ya?"

She looked up at the prince from where she was laying on his lap and snarked, "Oh, I'm sorry. Is that, like, painful for you? Does that hurt too much? Dragon forbid."

He rolled his eyes and sat her up with her back against his chest. Marissa's and Delta's eyes widened and they shared a look.

"Next time, don't be such a hero by throwing yourself in the line of fire," Orlando said, not noticing the two fairies hyperanalyzing the new position he shifted her into.

"If I remember correctly, it was Coda who was in the line of fire and I saved him by, like, kicking that dragon in the face."

"No, you didn't," Coda argued.

"I totally did."

"I was already out of the way."

"Well, then I got you double out of the way."

"What?"

Delta huffed and crossed her arms, leaning back into Orlando's chest and saying, "Whatever. I know what happened."

"Obviously not," Coda said under his breath, but only Ace heard.

"All done," Marissa announced. She lifted Delta's foot to show the others her nice wrapping job.

"Nice," Lee commented.

Delta pulled her leg inward and went to stand but yelped in pain and fell back into Orlando.

"You can't stand on it yet!" Marissa said.

"But I'm _tired,_ " Delta whined, "and I want to go to bed."

Orlando stood and helped her get onto his back again. He took her to the tent and the others followed, realizing that it was getting dark.

Mica and Piper left the fire burning as they joined the rest of the group in the massive tent. Sylvie had set up a partition down the middle of the tent, so everyone could get ready without having to awkwardly turn around. They all got ready to sleep in record time, most likely exhausted from the day's work, and crawled into standard issue Red Fountain sleeping bags to go to sleep. In a few minutes, everyone was out cold.

Everyone except their fearless leader.

Jane tossed and turned in her sleeping bag, unable to stop fixating on her Charmix (or lack thereof). With a huff, she sat up and stomped out of the tent. She plopped down by the fire and started to sob.

"Jane?"

Jane quickly sniffled and rubbed her tears away as Sylvie made her way toward her. Sylvie rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and asked, "What are you doing out here?"

Jane considered lying, but then she realized that if she was honest with Sylvie, she might finally earn her Charmix.

"I don't know if I'm cut out for this. For some reason, I'm the last one left who hasn't earned her Charmix."

"I haven't earned my Charmix."

"You haven't?" Jane gasped, looking up at the blonde. "That means I'm not the only one!"

"Shh! Keep it down!" Sylvie urged, gesturing to the tent.

Jane laughed and apologized, feeling relieved at this new revelation.

"It wouldn't be a big deal if you were the only one either," Sylvie assured her. "We have all week. What are you really worried about?"

"That's it," Jane said. Sylvie gave her a look, so the fire fairy admitted, "I don't think I can do this."

"Do what?" Sylvie asked, taking a seat beside her.

"Lead this mission. I don't think I want to do this mission at all."

Sylvie laughed derisively and said, "I don't think any of us want to do this mission."

"Then why are we doing it?"

That seemed to catch Sylvie off guard.

"Faragonda told us to."

"So?"

"I don't know," Sylvie shrugged. "I just assumed we're being graded for this or something."

"I'm just sick of being called the Winx."

Sylvie shrugged again and said, "I don't mind so much."

"How can you even stand it?" Jane asked.

Sylvie shrugged for a third time, starting to feel very much on trial.

"It's just, like... I've been compared to my mom since I was little and I fall short every time. I get compared to my brother, too, and my little sister is some sort of magical prodigy. I wouldn't have minded so much if I could just get away once in a while, but after the War of Wonders... well, Solaria hasn't been the same. So I never got out of the palace and I never had any friends to, y'know, talk me out of these..."

She paused there and searched for a word.

"Spiraling thoughts," she finally said. "That's what they're called. Anyway, yeah, Alfea was the light at the end of the tunnel. It was my chance to have friends and be someone other than my mom's daughter and my brother's sister, y'know? So I kind of like finally fitting into my mom's mold. I say let them call us whatever they want, y'know?"

Jane grimaced and replied, "Actually, no, Sylvie. I get where you're coming from, I do. I'm the definition of a middle child. But I never wanted to be my mom, and I think this mission just sealed our fate."

Sylvie pursed her lips and stayed quiet as Jane went on.

"You aren't your mom, I'm sorry to tell you that. But that's a good thing. You're such a beautiful person with a great smile and a great heart and great legs."

At that, Sylvie laughed and nodded, but she felt tears brimming in her eyes.

"Until you accept that Sylvia Stella Galassia Luce of Solaria is a beautiful, amazing, fantastic person, you'll never outgrow your mom's shadow."

Sylvie started crying, so Jane pulled the much, much taller girl to her shoulder and rubbed her back as she sobbed. She was getting better at comforting crying girls and she couldn't tell if that was a good or bad thing. When Sylvie pulled away, there was a brooch on her chest in the shape of a full moon with a dark blue sapphire twisted into the top right corner.

"Are you kidding me?" Jane laughed.

"Oops," Sylvie said with yet another shrug. They both laughed. She stood up, looked down, and asked Jane, "How do you know my full name, you weirdo?"

"Shut up. It's princess stuff," Jane laughed again, pushing Sylvie in the leg. Sylvie offered her a hand to help her up, but Jane shook her head. "I'm going to sit out here for a little longer."

Sylvie nodded and went back to the tent, leaving Jane alone with the ocean. Or so she thought.

A rustle behind her alerted her to someone else's presence. She thought it was a dragon, but when a hand slipped over her mouth, she realized it was a man. She tried to scream, but he leaned forward and whispered in her ear, "Don't bother, Princess."

Those were the last words she heard before the world went dark.

· · ─────── ·本· ─────── · ·

 **Shout-out again to DiamondQuietRose2** **for Xavier and the Lifeix Club. Check out the** **Lifeix Club: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut** **for more of his adorableness. (Chapter 5 was extra adorable!)**

 **The Venix Club briefly mentioned belongs to** **fairyofillusions** **.**

 **Let me know if you want some featuring too!**

 **Please review!**

 **Check this story out on Wattpad to see what the boys look like.**

 **Love, Ru😘**


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